JediChric

Google Music vs. Amazon Cloud Storage

2011-06-01T15:31:00.000-04:00

Recently, Google and Amazon (And Apple soon) have released their cloud music services, and much to my surprise, I am loving them both. Google’s service required an invite directly from Google, but Amazon’s rolled out to every user at one time. Kind of a different approach, but when you think about it, that is just what they do. Google does the beta, and Amazon opens up to the masses.

I would hate to have to pick a winner right now, because both services have many pro’s and con’s that make each one individual and different. So, below I have listed each one for both services. If I don’t cover something that you think is important, please e-mail/post or comment about what is missing, and I will try to address it.

Google Music
Pros
Thumbs up/Thumbs down - you can label music with a thumbs up or a thumbs down. Small feature, but it helps organize music that I like that is not in a playlist.
Editing of Album/Song Meta Data - this is especially useful because I often have an odd spelling of a particular artist and that creates two albums when in fact, it’s only one. I can now correct that.
Nice/Slick Interface - the interface is really streamlined and easy to use. It’s also very simple and user friendly.
Lists Number of Plays - I can see how many times a particular song has been played.
Number of Songs Able to Upload - allows for up to 20,000 songs to be uploaded. This could last only until the beta ends, though.
Instant Playlists - right click on a song, and click on create playlist, and you have a 20 song playlist of similar songs.
Cons
Takes a While to Load Sometimes - sometimes the song I would like play takes a few seconds to load. Mildly annoying, but still there.
Can’t Re-download to Computer - Amazon’s Cloud Service can re-download any song to any device. Google’s service will only allow you to download to a device (tablet/phone) and those are not even files you can download off your device.
Not all Album Art is Present - I like to see the album art for the songs that I own. Several instances of songs I bought from Amazon don’t show up on Google’ Service.
Need to Manually Upload to Google Music - when I purchase a song from Amazon, I have to manually download it to my computer and then re-upload it to Google Music (but that does happen automatically, so there is little actual work to be done).
Can’t Choose Particular Music Not to Upload - I have audio tracks that I don’t want uploaded, You pick a directory and Google will auto-upload them the first time.

Amazon Cloud Storage
Pros
Can Re-download to Any Computer/Device - I can re-download any file that I have uploaded to any computer, phone or tab as many times as I would like.
Music Bought from Amazon Is Stored for Free - if I buy a song from Amazon.com, they store the music for free as long as I have an account. Also, that music is added to my collection and there is no need to download and then upload music. It’s just there.
HTTPS: - plays over a HTTPS connection. Not sure why this is good, but I’m sure it is for one reason or another.
5 GB Free Space to Put Songs - having a basic Amazon.com account gets you 5GB free space. Additional storage costs extra.
Cons
Clunky Interface - the interface is very clunky and not as streamlined as the Google Music browser. Looks old.
No Instant Playlist - a nice feature that should be standard.
No Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down - could be very helpful if you want to play just thumbs-up music. Google has a default playlist of just music that you gave the thumbs-up to.
Doesn’t List Number of Plays - I like this feature, and am very surprised that Amazon hasn’t included it yet. I also noticed when the Zune player didn’t have it. Should be a standard feature.

I have to say, though, that the Google Music Beta is just a cleaner more interesting interface, and while Amazon seems to have the upper hand in purchasing and storing the music, Google has the edge on base features and clean looking interface. I am left wondering if Amazon left out some of those basic features because they were afraid of a patent lawsuit. But the good news is that neither of them are finished and each service can improve. Yay for choice!

4 Month Visit

2010-05-07T12:20:00.002-04:00

4 Months
14.14 lb (49th Percentile)
26 inches (85th Percentile)
17 HC [Head Size] (74th Percentile)

From this, I get three things. One, he is loosing his chunkiness and getting slim. I told him all those jumping jacks would be good for him. His height is completely average for my side of the family...I mean he's going to be tall, just like his pappy. And he has a big head...the reason, because while he was there, he took an IQ test and scored 203. And let's not forget the old saying, "big head, big ...." So, all is well, and he is a happy baby boy...and healthy.

The New Purpose of This Blog

2010-03-18T11:11:00.002-04:00

I have not needed to use this blog because of Twitter and Facebook. It's much easier to rant in 140 characters than it is to write out a full story, so I stopped using this blog. Well, I now have a reason to use it! This blog will forever be use to tell how fast my son is growing. I will list his weight, height and percentile he is in at the age of those measurements. So, let's get started.

Month Zero (or Day of Birth) 1/4/10
Weight: 9 LB 4 oz
Height: 21.5 Inches

Month 1 - 2/4/10
Weight: 10 LB 2 oz
Height: 22 Inches

Month 2 - 3/4/10
Weight: 12 LB 11 oz (75 Percentile)
Height: 24 Inches (86 Percentile)

As you can see, he is going to be a big boy. At first, I was thinking starting quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys, but now, I'm thinking Linebacker. I can't wait until his next measurement.

Happy Holidays...I Mean

2009-12-09T10:13:00.003-05:00

I got an funny e-mail from a co-worker and wanted to tweet it, but it is WAY to long for Twitter, so I am posting it here. This was a Forward from him, so I don't know who it originally came from. Enjoy, I know I did.

__________________________________________________________________

COMPANY MEMO:

FROM: Patty Lewis,
Human Resources Director
TO: All Employees
DATE: October 1, 2009
RE: Gala Christmas Party

I'm happy to inform you that the company Christmas Party
will take place on December 23rd, starting at noon in the
private function room at the Grill House. There will be a bar and
plenty of food and drinks! We'll have a small band playing traditional carols... feel free to sing along. And don't be surprised if our CEO shows up dressed as Santa Claus! A 10 foot Christmas tree will be lit at 1:00 PM. Exchanges of gifts among employees can be done at that time; however, no gift should be over $10.00 to make the giving of gifts easy for everyone's pockets. This gathering is only for employees! Our CEO will make a special announcement at that time!

Merry Christmas to you and your family,

Patty

__________________________________________________________________

Company Memo

FROM: Patty Lewis,
Human Resources Director
TO: All Employees
DATE: October 2, 2009
RE: Gala Holiday Party

In no way was yesterday's memo intended to exclude our Jewish employees. We recognize that Hanukkah is an important holiday, which often coincides with Christmas. However, from now on,
we're calling it our " Holiday Party." The same policy applies to any other employees who are not Christians and to those still celebrating Reconciliation Day. There will be no Christmas tree, no Santa Claus
and no Christmas carols will be sung. We will have other types of music for your enjoyment.

Happy Holidays to you and your family,
Patty

__________________________________________________________________

Company Memo:

FROM: Patty Lewis, Human
Resources Director

TO: All
Employees
DATE: October 3, 2009
RE: HOLIDAY PARTY

Regarding the note I received from a member of Alcoholics Anonymous requesting a non-drinking table, you didn't sign your name. I'm happy to accommodate this request, but if I put a sign
on a table that reads, "AA Only", you wouldn't be anonymous
anymore. How am I supposed to handle this? Somebody?
About the gift exchange, no gifts are allowed since the union
members feel that $10.00 is too much money and the executives
believe $10.00 is a little chintzy.

REMEMBER: GIFT EXCHANGE WILL NOT BE ALLOWED..

Happy Whatever,
Patty

______________________________________________________________

Company Memo:

FROM: Patty Lewis, Human
Resources Director
To: All Employees

DATE: October 4, 2009

RE: Generic Holiday Party

What a diverse group we are! I had no idea that December 20th
begins the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which forbids eating and
drinking during daylight hours.. There goes the party! Seriously, we can appreciate how a luncheon at this time of year does not accommodate our Muslim employees' beliefs. There will be no cash
bar, no alcohol, no pork dishes. That should take care of the Jewish, Muslim, and the AA groups. Perhaps the Grill House can hold off on serving Muslims your meals until the end of the party or else package everything for you to take it home in cute little foil doggy baggies. Will that work for you? Works for me.

In anticipation of more bitching and whining, I've arranged for members of Weight Watchers to sit farthest from the dessert buffet, and pregnant women and bulimics will get the table closest to the restrooms. Gays are allowed to sit with each other. Lesbians do
not have to sit with Gay men, each group will have their own table.
Yes, there will be flower arrangement for the Gay men's table.

To the one person asking permission to cross-dress, the Grill House
asks that no cross-dressing be allowed, apparently because of
concerns about confusion in the restrooms. Sorry.

We will have booster seats for "little people". Low-fat food will be
available for those on a diet. I am sorry to report that we cannot control the amount of salt used in the food . The Grill House suggests that people with high blood pressure taste a bite first. There will be fresh "low sugar" fruits as dessert for diabetics, but the restaurant cannot supply "no sugar" desserts. Sorry!

Heaven forbid I missed something?!?!? Did I?

Patty

_____________________________________________________________________

Company Memo:

FROM: Patty Lewis, Human
Resources Director
TO: All F*%^ing Employees
DATE: October 5, 2009

RE: This F*%^ing Holiday Thing

In order to compose this memo (and myself) with a bit of dignity, I'm having my fourth Scotch. First of all I've had it with you vegetarian pricks who keep calling me!!! We're going to keep this party at the Grill House whether you like it or not, so you can sit your asses quietly at the table furthest from the "Fried Fat Foodery", "Ptomaine Tavern", "Slop Shop", or "Grill of Death," as you so quaintly put it, and you'll get your f*%^ing salad bar, including organic tomatoes and tofurkey sandwiches. But you know, tomatoes have feelings, too. The little bastards scream when you slice them. I've heard them scream. I'm hearing them scream right NOW! Oh, was that was me? The rest of you f*%^ing weirdos can kiss my ass. I hope you all have a rotten holiday, gathering, meeting, or whatever the hell and if you don't want the pork you can eat the ass-hole out of a reindeer for all I care and I hope Rudolph craps in your non-alcoholic punch bowl! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

The B*tch from H*ll!!!

____________________________________________________________

Company Memo :

FROM:
Joan Bishop,
Acting Human Resources Director
DATE: October 6, 2009
RE: Patty Lewis and Company Gathering

I'm sure I speak for all of us in wishing Patty Lewis a speedy recovery and I'll continue to forward your cards to her.

In the meantime, management has decided to cancel our Company
Gathering and give everyone the afternoon of the 23rd off so each can do his or her own thing in his or her own way.

Happy Holidays!
Joan

A Visit From Above

2009-10-21T12:58:00.000-04:00

True story, but I have no proof of it happening, what-so-ever. I remember this very vividly.

March 9th. It was a Monday before 5:30 a.m. I was lying in bed waiting for the alarm clock to go off. When I opened my eyes, there was this man standing at the end of my bed. He was dressed like a normal person (no, I don’t remember what he was wearing). He looked at me, and even though there appeared to be an intruder in my house, I was very calm and didn’t have any fear. There was no halo over his head, no light emanating from behind him to give him a glow, just a man.

This man looked at me and said, “You will have a boy and you will name him Ezekiel”. Then he touched my alarm clock and I woke up. I looked around the room, but it was pitch black and I couldn’t see anything except the alarm clock. I couldn’t even see the powered-off TV that he was standing in front when he was there. I didn’t think much of it but I did tell my wife that morning. It didn’t really hit me until almost two months to the day, when we found out that we were 6 weeks pregnant, AND a few months after that we found out that we were having a boy.

Then I thought to myself. Was that a dream? Was it me thinking that we were going to have a baby or was it that an angel did in fact come down and tell me we were going to have a boy and we were going to name our boy Ezekiel. When he said “and you will name him Ezekiel”, it didn’t sound like a command, but more of a statement.

This was a very difficult post to write. For the longest time, I have been afraid to let my religious beliefs be known because of the stereotypes that Christians often get in movies and in the press sometimes, but recently I had a...for lack of a better word...vision and the more I tell people (you readers are not the first), the more I realize that I shouldn’t be ashamed at this experience, and instead I should cherish it as special.

This was also a first for me. Although I attend church on a regular basis, I have never in my life experienced an event such as that one. And seven months, later, I still very much believe that I was visited by an angel.

The Incredible, Edible Disc

2009-10-14T12:00:00.001-04:00

I have been hearing a lot of things about how Digital Distribution is going to be the future for video games, movies and music and other forms of consumable media. Now, while I can partially agree that the industries are moving that way, I don’t think anytime soon that we will be living in a world of download only in a couple of years. Here are just a few reasons why:

1. Bandwidth Caps (BDCs) – so much has been said about bandwidth caps that I don’t want to go back over them, but for this discussion, it’s really important. I know that several of my friends have a much more restrictive bandwidth cap than what I have to suffer through. Time Warner is one of the worst by having 5 GB BDCs a month. That is horrible. Any overages for that will result in a fee in the amount of $1 per GB over the cap used. With every generation, the games are becoming better looking and have more information in it, which in turn means it will be a bigger and bigger download. The average download for a full game is 4 GB so, let do the math: Two game downloads at 3.2 GB per game, is 6.4 GB total. If your cap is 5 GB then you have already blown your cap for the whole month, and you haven’t done anything but download games. What about e-mail, YouTube, and Facebook and other social networks?
2. No High Speed Internet – some locations of the country don’t even have what can be considered fast enough to download a game. Have you ever tried to download a song on a 56k modem? If not, try it and let me know how long it took, then multiply that time one-hundred times and you might come close to how long a movie takes. Then multiply that time by 4 and you have the same amount of time it takes to download a game. This is where the traditional discs come into play. That is their only REAL option. So what is the solution to DL only games: Streaming Games (see #3)?
3. The DRM Issue – when you buy a game that is download only, you don’t really own your game. By that I mean that you can play it, you can download it (Xbox 360, PS3 or PC), you can even let a friend play it on your machine, but if you try and take it anywhere but your machine, then you are out of luck. Even WORSE is that if the internet is down, or the DRM servers go OFFLINE, then your content isn’t even playable at ALL! So let’s talk music. Yes, I buy music off the internet. But I do not buy DRM’d music off the internet, and I refuse to buy music that has DRM that will restrict how I listen to my music. So, don’t try and sell me on the convenience factor of digital distribution, when you limit the convenience I had with discs. The same here can apply to movies.
4. Streaming Games/Movies and Internet Outages – everyone wants an internet that never goes down and is always there, but in reality, it’s not. There are internet outages from time to time and if you are required to connect to the internet every single time you play certain games (EA PC games, I’m looking at you, Xbox users would only be affected by online/MP only games such as Battlefield: 1943, otherwise you can at least play your game Single Player games offline) then you are S O L (And that doesn’t mean for standards of learning). So, why would we want to go that route?
5. Loaning/Trading In Games – this isn’t even possible for download only games. What amazes me is that an executive somewhere is telling me that I have to give up playing with discs because download only is the future? Why? If there are discs out there, then that is what I will be buying because if my cohort in crime (not really) SparkStalker wants to borrow Left of Dead or Halo 3: ODST (two games he actually already owns but for the sake of argument) he can. If I want to play more of a game besides what’s in the demo, then I can go to Blockbuster and rent the game. With no game discs, that will not be possible.
6. Storage Space – on this topic, I am going to focus on game consoles because game consoles generally speaking have the smallest hard drives (HD) out there. The Xbox 360, PS3 and Nintendo Wii all have small hard drives compared to laptop computers. The Xbox can have a HD 20GB in size at the smallest (this is of course discounting the Xbox Arcade model that has NO HD at all) and the largest Xbox HD out there now is 250GB (the CoD:MW2 consoles). The PS3 has something equivalent or less on both sides of the spectrum. Don’t even get me started on the Wii. Anyway, if you spend $300 on an Xbox that has a twenty GB HD, then you basically have room for four, maybe five games and that is IF you don’t want anything else on your HD. So, if you have five 3.2 GB games on your drive, then that’s 16GB of a 20GB HD. There are 2GB’s (I think) of space already taken up by system tools, and that gives you only 2GB for EVERYTHING else. That would mean that you have almost no room for any movies, music, arcade games (smaller sized games for cheaper price). And Arcade games are getting larger and larger every 6 months. And then there is the price of the HD, which for the Xbox, is ridiculous. All in all, not the biggest issue, but it still is an issue.
7. Price – this is a VERY important reason why (at least with games) that I am against digital distribution. If a studio wants to convince me that convenience is a factor, then price factors into that convenience argument. I will not spent $60 on an all digital game, when I can buy the disc for the same price. Why would I want to give up the choice of trading in/loaning my games? Why? Give me one good reason. Now, let’s say that I had a choice of Halo Reach for the Xbox 360. Digital download cost $35 and the game disc cost $60, and that I might go for (but honestly, I would probably still buy the disc because I feel more secure that way, but at least I would consider it rather than dismissing it outright). In other words, lower the price and we’ll consider it.

Every rule has an exception so let’s go over them.

1. Xbox/Zune Eco System – Xbox Live and the Zune Marketplace are two really good (mostly) integrated services. If you buy a game, movie, video, piece of Avatar clothing, add-on game pack, you can download it, delete it from your HD and then re-download it without having to re-purchase the content (of course you still have to be logged into your account which in that eco system is called a Gamertag).
2. Amazon On Demand – Amazon On Demand is perhaps one of the best services out there for purchasing digital movies. It’s not a perfect system, but it’s close to it. First, you can rent or buy movies for close to a quarter of the price. Case in point: I bought season 3 of Dexter for $11.88. The physical discs were $42.99. That is the type of cost savings that will propel me to purchase digitally. Also, with certain Amazon On Demand purchases, you can download the episodes/movies to your PC and play whenever you want without an internet connection and play them on a Roku player that is hooked up to your television. Price plus Ease of Use plus Real Convenience = Buy.

The conclusion is that digital distribution may actually be the future, but they need to solve the first seven points in this post in order to make it a true success. Good luck with that!

That Old Pron Spamming Feeling

2009-08-28T11:28:00.001-04:00

I wanted to put this on Twitter, but couldn't so I'll share with you a funny thing that happened to me yesterday.

I really hate it when I'm sitting at home and I get this message over IM from someone who we have never heard of. This happens to a lot of people, and 99% of the time, it's some woman who wants to advertise to a unsuspecting person their porn site. Well, it happened to me yesterday. I'm probably breaching etiquette by posting their screen name, so I'm starring it out. If there is a request to see the screen name, then I will post it.

* >3 hello >3
jedichric can I help you with something?
* hey there cutie???
jedichric who are you?
jedichric do I know you from somewhere?
* i am me! well i found your id and decided to msg you, im sooo very lonely and only want company
jedichric I am at work and don't have time
* who is this again? Sorry I don't recognize the name lol
jedichric you IM'd me
* Oh Ok LOL,Nice!how you doin??

Now here is what was going through my mind as it happened.

* >3 hello >3
-Who is this? Is this a Geezer? Someone I don't talk with regularly? So I ask my question. I thought the "Can I help you with something?" was a generic enough to let them know "I heard you, who are you" but I guess I was wrong.
* hey there cutie???
-As soon as they said this, alarm bells started to go off. Why is someone besides my wife calling me cutie? Then I ask the obvious questions "Who are you?" and "Where do I know you from?"
* i am me! well i found your id and decided to msg you, im sooo very lonely and only want company
-Okay, first off, if I ask you a question like Who are you? and you come back with "I am me" That tells me two things. 1. You don't want to tell me who you are for fear of me blocking you right away, and/or 2. You are messing around with me. I don't like either one of those. Then this [for the sake of this article, let's assume it's a woman] woman tells me that she randomly found my ID and wanted to chat, and if that wasn't enough she tried to pull on my strings assuming that I was some horny guy who has nothing better to do in life than chat with strange women over the internet. I then tell her I don't have time for this kind of thing, and...
* who is this again? Sorry I don't recognize the name lol
-WHAT ON EARTH DO SHE THINK ASKING ME THAT QUESTION? Of course you don't recognize the name, she just said in her previous IM that she just randomly found my ID. I then stupidly answer You IM'd me...
* Oh Ok LOL,Nice!how you doin??
-I think my exact thought at that point was, "I don't have time for this crap." And blocked her.

That whole exchange took place over two minutes. Maybe I was being too nice, but I honestly thought that this was a Geezer friend who had seen my profile on Facebook or GG.com and wanted to say hi or something. It has happened in the past. When I showed my wife this conversation, she laughed, and said, "Why do you have all these porn people trying to contact you over twitter and IM?" I answered, "Because this is the new media and even when I sign up for things that have no relationship to porn, they still try and become my friend to sell me their porn site by sending me messages, and trying to become friends on Facebook, and get IM's from them all the time." And you know what, it's true.

Message to all Porn Spammers

I do not want to see your naked pictures online. PERIOD!

They Can Swim

2009-05-21T18:41:00.003-04:00

I didn’t realize that I would be writing this post this early, but because of outside forces, I have decided to let everyone know the BIG, on in this case, the little news.

Click Here

On the Thursday before Mothers day, my wife and I found out that we were going to have a baby. This was VERY incredible news that we had both been looking forward too. The first person we told was my best friend. Why him? Well, he and his wife are going through the exact same thing at the exact same time. In fact, when he told us, we were also pregnant, but we just didn’t know it yet. Sorry Mom, but you were second. That Sunday, me and my wife told my mother-in-law and her family and my wife’s grandparents. We tried to keep it a secret, but my wife has been telling everyone since then. She had requested that they keep it a secret, but that just isn’t happening.

The bad part of all this is that we are only 6 to 8 weeks into this for the first time. I have resisted telling people because I don’t want to share this great thing of ours and then we have an unfortunate accident. But I can no longer resist the urge to keep this a secret. My wife and I want to share this wonderful news with everyone.

During this time, though, please respect out privacy on this matter. I will keep everyone updated on the podcast, Twitter and Facebook. If you have any questions for me or Elspeth, please e-mail me or send me a private message. Also, please instead of congratulating us, please pray for us to have a safe and healthy pregnancy.

Thank you.

JediChric and JedisPadme

Ps. The title of this post is a direct rip off of Mojo’s thread. Thanks for the help with that, Mojo.

The Mouse Will Play

2009-05-07T08:27:00.001-04:00

Okay, so I promised this too you a couple of weeks ago, and I know that I am late, but here is what I did that weekend.

• Mix orange juice, milk and grape juice into one drink and start gulping, while keeping the toilet in close range
I didn’t do this, but only because I was out of grape juice.
• Did anyone see “Risky Business” and the Tom Cruise dancing scene? I’m just saying...
This was fun. But instead of doing the “Risky Business”, it was the “Risky Macarena”.
• Watching horror movies without worrying about scaring the wife to death
I didn’t watch any horror movies, with the exception of “Stupid Teenagers Must Die”. It was funny, but horror movies just aren’t my bag.
• Having a full bathroom sink to myself
This is one of those perks that you don’t think of until you actually have it.
• Not having to worry about whether the bathroom seat is up or down
Please see last explanation.
• Falling asleep with pizza on my stomach
I did this with one small exception, I had the pizza on a plate so the fries and mayo wouldn’t leak onto my clothes.
• Not having to worry about chocolate magically disappearing
I didn’t have to worry about this, because my wife either ate it all before she left or took it with her.

I would now like to apologize for not updating this blog very often. I find it easier to rant and rave in 140 characters over Twitter and Facebook.

Fundamentalist Right-Wing Extremist

2009-04-22T13:01:00.002-04:00

(I would have to thank SlapShotSal for giving me inspiration for this blog post)

This Miss USA/Miss California controversy continues to flare up. And now, of course Hollywood has to get into the act. It has to be the most liberal of all communities has to go on record and make fun of the answer that Carrie Prejean gave. (Here is the story. As an aside, I’m glad that Alicia Silverstone has found some acting work since “Clueless”.) But they have the right, remember that in 2004 they stood on stage with John Kerry and said that they were the voice of America. Really? So it stands to reason that they would voice their opinion and claim that what they believe is what is right for America. I’ve written about my dislike for Hollywood before, so I’m not going to rehash that, but this brings up an interesting point that I discussed on Twitter yesterday.

What I want to talk about for this post has to do with beliefs. Sal, Burton and I had a giant twitter storm (number of tweets, not anger) going on about how no matter what position we take on a topic we get labeled with a tag. I’ll start with the silly and move to the serious ones.

If I say I prefer the Xbox 360 over the PS3, and make the most convincing reason for it, I’m a 360 fanboy. Why? Is it because I HATE the PS3? No, it could be because I play the 360 10 times more than any other console I have played in my entire life (that includes the NES and Atari). But because I like the 360, that makes me an Xbox 360 fanboy. WRONG! I like it because it better, that’s why!

I sometimes wonder what people would have labeled me after I took the Pepsi Challenge if the internet were around in the 80’s. I know what I would have heard: I’m a Pepsi Fanboy. I like the taste of Pepsi over Coke because I’m a fanboy, not because I absolutely hate the taste of Coke. No, it’s because I’m a Pepsi fanboy.

Do you guys really want me to talk about the one controversy that I constantly put up with? Yeah, it’s the Star Wars versus Star Trek. Well, I’m a Star Wars fan...if you couldn’t already tell that. Reason: I don’t believe in the utopian society that Star Trek is representative of. Star Wars: it’s the melting pot (American has been called the melting pot in the past).

Now let’s get serious. If you like Mel Gibson and his movies, you’re an anti-Semite bigot. If you don’t agree with what Obama does in the White House, you’re a racist bigot. If you agree with Carrie Prejean, you’re a homophobic idiot that Hollywood will make lampoon. You can’t have an opinion in this world anymore, and if you do, you’re wrong and possibly one of the above.

These days, though, not only can you be labeled on the internet for being vocal and opinionated. You can now be labeled as a threat to the United States. This is one label that can stick. If you don’t know what I am talking about, the Homeland Security Secretary placing a footnote that at least implied that soldiers that come home from Iraq and Afghanistan could be “extremists”. Yes, that does only apply to soldiers returning from war, but what about a memo that hasn’t been leaked that states people on message boards are extremists. Or tags people who blog as extremists? Where does it stop?

I’ve never been afraid to give my opinion, because I was raised to have beliefs and not be afraid to tell someone what they are. I am that way and I will continue to be that way. But we live in a world today, where we don’t have the right to view the world from a certain perspective and if we do, we could be labeled as a fundamentalist right-wing extremist.

Believe the Answer

2009-04-22T07:13:00.000-04:00

It amazes me how one person can start a controversy. Imagine, to Miss California’s Carrie Prejean’s surprise, how one answer can kick-start the hottest controversy in the past year. Shall we start at the beginning?

During last year’s election, most liberal state in the Union decided to ban on Gay Marriage when they passed Proposition 8 with 7 million people voting for it. Whether it was right, or wrong doesn’t matter (you can also apply this to the 18th Amendment). It was passed into law. There was a huge uproar when this happened, but it did happen.

Fast forward five months. As one friend of mine called him, “The tool Perez Hilton” asked Miss California, during the Miss USA pageant, a question about Gay Marriage.

Watch it for yourself here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYV1aBDH7cA

Now, Perez Hilton is furious about this. Why did he ask that question? The reason: he asked it to create a national controversy if the contestant answered it the way he thought it would have been answered. Now, the country is divided once again.

What was so wrong with Miss California’s answer? I couldn’t find an issue with it. Was it right? That is an answer that will vary from person to person, but to Miss Prejean’s credit, she answered it with conviction, knowing that her answer could cost her the crown. In other words, I think she did the right thing. Not for the answer that she gave, but because of the conviction in which she answered it. She didn’t lie. She didn’t try and be political. She formed an opinion and answered the question.

Did she lose? In one way: Yes. She was named First-Runner Up, and didn’t win. She could have lied and won the pageant, but by not doing that, I think she is more of a winner than Miss North Carolina (I don’t know what her name is). But she has also won in the eyes of the people who want their role models to tell the truth. She is a winner in my eyes because of that.

Now the after affects of this are not fully known, but I can say one thing. If you become a fan of hers on Facebook: you’re a homophobe. If you disagree with her, then you’re pro-gay marriage. What does one do in this instance? For one, I agree that her sticking with her beliefs is admirable. I think this will cost her fame and money in the long run, but at least she can keep her head held high.

Now for “that tool”: Perez Hilton. He knew what he was doing. He knew that by asking that question, he was taking a competition that was meant to be about beauty and turned it into a political circus (and probably gave him the highest ratings he has ever had on his blog). Calling Carrie Prejean a “stuipd b****” was also wrong. She’s not stupid, she just has conviction and is willing to stand by it. I think someone who stands up for their beliefs has more moral character than a person that will lie to me to make me like them. Do I sometimes not want to hear the “truth”? Yeah, but I respect a person more for sticking to their beliefs.

Shame on you Mrs. Hilton. SHAME!

When the Cat Is Away

2009-04-15T11:26:00.000-04:00

My wife is leaving town for a few days, and I can’t help but say “YES!!!!” It’s back to the bachelor’s lifestyle for me. And I know that some of you our there say, “How could you be happy your wife is leaving?” Well, it’s sometimes good to be away from the one you love just to get a refresher of how much you enjoy time by yourself. You know, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder” saying and all that. So, in that spirit, I will list the top things that I am looking forward to as a bachelor from tonight through Monday night.

• Mix orange juice, milk and grape juice into one drink and start gulping, while keeping the toilet in close range
• Did anyone see “Risky Business” and the Tom Cruise dancing scene? I’m just saying...
• Watching horror movies without worrying about scaring the wife to death
• Having a full bathroom sink to myself
• Not having to worry about whether the bathroom seat is up or down
• Falling asleep with pizza on my stomach
• Not having to worry about chocolate magically disappearing

Check back in with me next week to see if I actually did any of these things.

The Marriage Laws

2009-04-10T11:37:00.001-04:00

I have only been married for a couple of years now, but I have come to learn that there are several undisputable/incorruptible rules. I will list them here:

1. When an agreement is made between the husband and wife, only the wife is allowed to break said rule in light of the fact that they are always right.
2. The wife is allowed and encouraged to by her friends to pass out contact information for the husband on any whim that they receive. This whim may include the need of a friend or family member that needs someone to fix cars, computers and/or the laws of physics. The fact that the husband is qualified or willing to do such a task is immaterial.
3. When a wife makes a mistake, a simple “oops” will suffice as an apology. The husband, on the other hand, is required by law to buy flowers, chocolate and wine (if he did a really bad thing like leave the cap off the toothpaste) to seek forgiveness, but that is only after he has apologized for three straight days and groveled on the floor and possibly a couple of nights of sleeping on the couch.
4. The old axiom of whoever controls the finances, controls the household is only true when the wife is in control of the household finances.
5. When eating a dinner prepared by the wife, the husband is only allowed to admit that it might have been a mistake to cook after the wife first admits to it. If the husband is the first to admit it, see rule 3. If a husband fails to cook a good meal, it is immediately tossed out and never allowed to be made again.
6. A husband is never allowed to say the wife looks fine. In his eyes, no matter how bad she dressed, the wife is the most beautiful woman on the earth and that is how it should be stated to the wife. If it is stated otherwise, see rule 3. The converse of this is that the wife can repeatedly tell the husband that they look fat, ugly and sloppy when dressed in certain ways. The husband’s only course of action is to change.
7. When both parties in a marriage have to use the restroom at the same time, it’s always ladies first. When a house is burning to the ground, it is always ladies first. When its time for TV, its ladies first. You get the idea that it is always ladies first, except for one instance: when someone dies, then usually it’s the husband that goes first...and we like it that way!

Fear the Purchase

2009-04-07T11:30:00.002-04:00

Has anyone out there wanted to buy something, but didn’t knowing that a newer more advanced product will be released in the future. Take the iPhone, for example. In 2007, the iPhone was released and the collective masses went wild. They bought them up like there was no tomorrow. Well, wouldn’t you know it, a year later, the New and Improved iPhone was released with 3G. The people who bought the original iPhone now had to plop down more money for a second phone if they wanted the 3G (I think that was the case and may be otherwise and if so, please comment and let me know).

Now, comes little old me, who wants a Kindle. I think the Kindle would benefit both me and my wife. Actually, I think it would benefit my wife more with the text to speech option (if it is included for the books she wants). But right now, the Kindle is in Generation 2, and only has a black and white screen. Although I want one, I would be willing to wait for one that has a color screen, if that version is not that far off. Should we buy one, knowing that there will be a better version a year from then?

I like innovation and I love that the customer can push the make of devices to put new things, but I am always wary of buying something if it might mean buying it again a year later.

Because It Works

2009-04-02T15:45:00.001-04:00

A lot of people, who know me well, think that I am a ball of negativity when it comes to moving to something new, well, I can agree and disagree with that statement. Let me give you an example of that.

Let’s use the Xbox 360 versus the PS3 online service as a good example. Xbox Live is one of the easiest and most worry free services that I have ever used (now I will admit that I don’t do a lot of them) and I am very pleased with the ease of use that is associated with that service. Want to see what your friends are doing? Just login and look. Want to join their party, click B (or is it Y?). Want to send them a message, again very easy. But you can do that pretty easily on the PS3 online also. But then you go to the next level and join someone game. On Xbox Live (XBL), it’s sometimes as easy as clicking “Join Game”. On the PS3, though, you have to jump through several hoops because unlike Xbox Live, the developers of the games determine what features you have in regards to multiplayer. It’s not a universal standard like XBL.

Now this applies to a lot of other things. Take Facebook, for example, I hated the MySpace layout, but absolutely LOVE the layout of Facebook. Simple, easy to understand and works nearly all the time. When someone hates something, it’s not always because of a bias, it’s because they sometimes prefer to have it a different way...because it works!

My Trip To Seattle

2009-04-01T21:11:00.001-04:00

For anyone who had not figured it out, I was never in Seattle, and it was an APRIL FOOLS JOKE!!! I was in Richmond, VA for the whole day…

How it all started. I posted the news about the latest episode of Geezer Radio and then thought that I’d give a logical reason why I posted it that early. I was on a trip to Seattle. No one said anything, so I just continued on with it. At one point, I felt really bad that I was tricking you, but then I thought, “It’s April 1st. You should be expecting it.”

At one point, I even had my wife thinking I was in Seattle when we were chatting online at each others office.

The tools I used to perpetrate the hoax...Twitter, Google Maps, time and one very understanding wife that wanted to know why I didn't tell her I was going to Seattle... :~P

So thank you to the following people who participated in my joke. If it wasn't for you, I'd have felt pretty stupid (like I don't already).

My wife, JedisPadme
SparkStalker
Kiko Derderian
King Wulfgar
Furgus
Jeff MacMichael
Mrs. SlapShotSal
Th3Gunsl1ng3r

Delivery Man

2009-03-30T12:15:00.001-04:00

I find it funny that once something goes bad enough, everyone knows about it. Case in point, my Xbox 360 died last week (thank you for your concern everyone), and I called in to 1-800-4MY-XBOX. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised in how good the customer service was. Yes, they had to have me sit in front of my 360 in order to properly test it, and yes they made me go through each individual steps designed only to test my patience, but after it was determined that I had a defective 360, they immediately took action. It was fast, easy and very efficient.

Now comes the very laughable part. They asked me if I had been shipped a “coffin (mailing box that MS sends out)” before. I responded yes, and they immediately shipped it to me. Fine. What bothers me the most about these “coffins” is that EVERYONE knows what they are for. In fact, this exchange happened to me just a few minutes ago.

The UPS man came through the door of my office to deliver the packages. He wheeled them in the systems helpdesk room, had someone sign for them and then started to hand them out. He called my name and handed the box. As soon as I had the box in my hands, the man looked at me and said, “If you didn’t play it that much, it wouldn’t blow out.” It really bothers me that the UPS man knows that the contents (or lack there of) of a package, the shape and size can tell him what the box is for. Not only is this a privacy issue, but what about security? What if my replacement box comes and it is immediately identified and stolen? Microsoft, could you please find a new box to ship things in?

Better yet, can you make a console without a HUGE hardware issue like this?

Too Tired

2009-03-26T11:06:00.000-04:00

I’ve gotten to the point where writing a blog everyday is just getting too tiresome and it is now beginning to feel like a chore, instead of something fun and enjoyable. So, going forward, I think that I will not be publishing an article everyday, and instead just posting when I have something that I really want to talk about, which might be five days a week, or just one day a week.

I would like the comments to continue. Also, I am on Twitter and Facebook. I also have my Twitter status carry over to my Facebook status. Twitter has also allowed me to just put up random thoughts for the whole world to see instead of holding them all for one blog post. So, peace-out and keep rubbing the some dirt on it.

I don't know how often I will post, but I'm not going anywhere, just saying less.

...Will Happen Again

2009-03-25T09:59:00.001-04:00

When I saw the ending (SPOILER ALERT) I was shocked. Not at the fact that some of them survived, but after that, during the scene’s where Head Six and Head Baltar were seen on Earth 150,000 later debating whether or not the human race (the ones that they started anew) would repeat the same mistakes. It became really eerie when they showed robots that were in development and how Human they looked and it just begs the question. Will we suffer the same fate as the twelve colonies?

Think about it. There are dozens of pop-culture movies about the destruction of humanity by the means of robots. There are reasons. Robots are a relatively new concept. We use them now, but not to the extent that they could be used. Imagine a world where “Terminator’s” do rebel. Terminators = Cylons. If that is a stretch, and you think that this is just a modern concept, then look back a few years before then.

“I, Robot” was written back in the fifties and it revolutionized the way people imagined robots. It also came up with the “Three Laws”. I would like to believe that if the three laws are followed, then we might be able to prevent anything like this. (And with all due respect to Ronald D Moore, the Excutive Producer of the re-imaged Battlestar Galacitca, I think he made a glaring lack of use of the three laws.) (Also, there is some debate as to whether the three laws would be effective in today's world, and I never really want to find out.)

What I am saying, though, is that although the ending of Battlestar Galactica implies that humanity is based off of their story, I do think that we are headed towards a day when Robots will be taking a greater responsibility in regards to what they handle on a day to day basis. In order not to end up like the John Connor and friends or Admiral Adama, or even worse to end up in a Grey Goo scenerio, we need to cover our basis and decide, "How much or what do we want computers and Robots to control?"

What Has Happened Before...

2009-03-24T10:46:00.001-04:00

I am a HUGE fan of Battlestar Galactica and am now heartbroken since the final episode was shown on Friday. It’s hard to say goodbye to characters that you have come to grow and love for five+ years (for me and the wife it was only three+ years). Even still, the wife and I made an emotional investment in these characters, and now, they’re gone. Forever! Yes, we will see some of them in the upcoming series Caprica, but it won’t be the same. No where near the same. I guess I feel like a guy who is watching his friend leaving on a plane, hoping to see them again, but knowing that he never will. Sad, but that’s life.

Tomorrow

2009-03-23T12:51:00.001-04:00

I am working on a post for tomorrow, because I really need to write it out very carefully. It will have to do a lot with the ending of Battlestar Galactica and the themes that surrounded it. I hope I can get to it tomorrow.

Episode 22 of Geezer Radio...

2009-03-20T10:38:00.001-04:00

...will be posted today for everyone to listen to. Sal and Mojo, Spark and I really do love you guys so please forgive us if you aren’t happy with us. Thanks and enjoy.

Feeling Dangerous

2009-03-18T11:46:00.002-04:00

Does anyone else out there feel like the world is becoming more and more restricted in the things we do on the internet on a daily basis?

Read this story.

Now, this is in Australia, but I think that someday this could happen in the U.S. When you shake you head and say “No, way” think about all the new laws that New Zealand (another link ). I know I am reaching in my comparisons, but look at the Comcast. Comcast has said that it will disconnect someone for a full year for using more than 250 GB in any two months of your service (or is a year or two months in a row, I’m not sure which it is). Comcast said that they were doing this for network management, but what is stopping them from saying, “Oh, look you visited the Verizon FIOS activation site we now feel like we have sufficient cause to disconnect you.” What about Xbox Live where I am now scared to have the word Married on my profile for fear of it getting me suspended/banned for inappropriate language. Or worse, the U.S. labels you as a person of interest in terrorism if you visit Al Jazeera or websites that support terrorism. You say, it can’t happen, but if you think that it can never happen, then you may have forgotten McCarthyism in the 50’s or the Japanese Interment camps of the 40’s.

These days, I am very scared to venture into new parts of the internet for fear of doing something illegal that I am unaware of. I guess that I need to delete my Wikileaks link....

A Rave

2009-03-17T11:11:00.000-04:00

I have something to rave about. Watchmen: The Movie

I was able to get free Watchmen (the deal has since expired) movie tickets and I’m glad I did, otherwise I wouldn’t have gone to see it, and I am glad I did because I LOVED IT! I had never heard of them, nor cared until I heard about the movie. I decided to go in knowing nothing, not because I wanted to be surprised, but because I just didn’t care. Well, I’m glad I went in without knowing anything, because it was AWESOME.

Anyway, it was a GREAT movie. At times, my mouth just laid on the floor in amazement. And those three hours flew by to the point that I wanted it to last longer. The story was great, the characters were just off the chart and the ending was...WOW...I am going to have to own that movie on Bluray when it comes out.

A lot of people might not have liked it because of the moral questions it asked (like the Dark Knight) but it didn’t bother me. We don’t live in an antiseptic world where there is the cut and dry, good versus evil spectrum that we can point out. Sometimes the bad guy does wins, and making a moral choice comes down to what is logically right and not what is morally right and vice versa.

Too Much To Do

2009-03-17T10:34:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to apologize for the lack of updating over the past week. I have been extremely busy at work and a couple days in there I haven’t had a chance to take a deep enough breath to make me feel happy...okay, that was an exaggeration. But I have been really busy. I’ll try to say more up to date these days, but with my new position at my job, things can get a little...busy. Anyway, I am fine and everything is good, just really busy these days.

Forced to be a Criminal

2009-03-11T11:31:00.000-04:00

I am sometimes forced to be a criminal. Let me try to explain. I love TV, movies and music (as well as games, but I have never pirated a game before) and those most of the time entertain me for hours on end. But I dislike the RIAA and the MPAA for forcing me into their model of thinking. Dislike is a strong work...it’s more like I hate them.

With the invention of the MP3, I am now able to go out there and buy any song I want from any CD, as long as it’s available. When it’s not available, then normally I would be out of luck. The same goes for movies, and TV shows. I love the show IT Crowd, but all three seasons are not available in the US for purchase. So, what do I have to do? I have to pirate all the episodes off a Torrent. If it wasn’t for that, I would have to wait for the meager showings on TV (one show a week and they are shown in no particular order). They aren’t offered on Netflix and forget about it on Hulu. The only way to get them: download them from a torrent (of be like me and get a friend get it for me...Thanks to “you know who you are”).

Music was one of those big problems in the past. If I wanted a song, I would have had to download them from iTunes, and then I would get a copy that would have DRM on it and I wouldn’t be able to play it on my Zune. In that instance, I would have to find a way to strip the DRM from it, and then I would be set. Now, though, that problem has been solved with Amazon and iTunes have gone DRM free. Now, I can do everything legally when it comes to music.

Movies and TV shows, though, also follow that old model. Now DVD’s sometimes come with a digital copy, but they are HEAVILY DRM’d and can only be used on your PC, which means that you can’t take it with you on a trip, unless you take your laptop. That means NO Zune or iPod. What good is that? What legal solution do we have?

I guess what I am trying to say is that I will gladly pay good money for a movie or TV show if you give it to me in a way that I want: a portable and transferable version, no DRM, a quality version and a smallish size. So, here is a message to the MPAA and RIAA: I will buy from you if you give it to me the way I want! Is that too much to ask for?

Must Get...

2009-03-09T12:08:00.000-04:00

SLEEP! The DST switch kept me tossing and turning all night. I so want to cover T.O. and the Bills, and Torrents, but today...I just want to sleep.

250

2009-03-06T10:38:00.000-05:00

This is my 250th post on Blogger. I like my home, and I hope to be here for another 250 posts.

Look Up and Ahead

2009-03-05T11:39:00.000-05:00

I can’t help but ask “why did Dallas cut T.O.?” I understand that he is a destructive presence in the locker room, but WHO on that team will now produce the same numbers as T.O.? I can’t help but think that the Dallas Cowboys will be 5-11 next year, unless they sign another WR that can stretch field. So, the reason I am looking up is because I have to look up because that’s the only place the Cowboys can go. This offseason has been horrible. And the next season isn’t looking that good right now.

I Want My ITV

2009-03-04T11:12:00.001-05:00

Last night, the wife and I were talking about getting a Roku player for the bedroom. But ultimately, we decided that at this time it was something that we might get in the future but it sure was an attractive option last night. For those of you who don’t know what a Roku player is, it’s a set-top box that allows you to stream Netflix Instant Watch movies through a TV. Not new to me and the wife, because we have a 360 that does the same thing, but in our bedroom, all that we have is a TV with a PS3. Now, the PS3 does have a movie playing option, but for two reasons the PS3 is not an optimal choice.

Reason one is that the PS3 only allows you to purchase or rent a movie to download. As far as I am aware, there is no option to stream. The second reason is that to download something from the PSN takes FOREVER! It took me 20 minutes to download a 16MB patch for Killzone 2 on Monday. Now, imagine a 1.5 GB movie. Or how about a 1.2 GB demo of Killzone 2, which I already had to wait 2 1/2 hours to download. Completely ridiculous if you ask me. Now the demos and movies may be on different servers, but come on. I want it and I want it now!

Roku, on the other hand, can stream a movie from Netflix instantly. Click play and a minute later the movie starts. That’s instant gratification. But at the moment, I’m still hoping that Sony will put Netflix in the PS3, but I might not want to hold my breath. If Roku put Hulu.com and TV.com as an accessible option, then all of a sudden the Roku player is a must have. Let’s push it one step further. Amazon Video on Demand was just recently added to the Roku player, and that added 40,000 titles to the library that the Roku can play. When are we going to get to the point that we can get all our TV through the internet and not cable or satellite? Will we ever get to that point?

But before we get there, two things need to happen. One, we need more bandwidth without bandwidth caps. Two, prices for bandwidth need to drop and a REASONABLE pricing structure for Internet TV needs to be put into place.

Right now, though I am completely happy with my Netflix360 player and DVD/Bluray disks. But in a few years, I will want my Internet Television.

Just Say No To More BSG

2009-03-03T13:02:00.003-05:00

Please...don't be true!!! Link

My opinion, like you asked for it, is that this is just a poor and horrible excuse to make more money off of a GREAT franchise that was brought back to life by Ronald D Moore. Gary (Larson) just give it a rest and retire. The only way I will ever see it is if they put it on Netflix.

Snow Day For Some

2009-03-02T10:51:00.001-05:00

It's SNOWING!!!! We have 7 1/2 inches outside and it's beautiful!

An Appology

2009-02-27T11:42:00.002-05:00

I just wanted to let my fans know that the Comment section for this blog was turned to members only, meaning that I was the only one that was allowed to comment. Thank you King for pointing that out. The option has been changed so that anyone with an Open ID or a Google account can now comment. Sorry for not catching this sooner. Let the berating begin.

The TMI Guy

2009-02-26T11:07:00.000-05:00

I was listening to the radio and they were talking about Facebook personalities. One of them was the “The TMI Guy” and at first I was like do they tell you too much private information or personal information like when they have sex or when do stuff that is completely offensive (one example that I will give is that someone mentioned that they discovered 2-girls-1-cup...or whatever it is and while I have never visited the site, I do know of it's reputation and I would never publish that I went there) in my eyes (and of course everyone is different on their thoughts on what is offensive). But as I listened to this, I realized that the DJ was just saying anyone who updates their status (no matter what that status is) more than 5 times a day is a TMI Guy. How is that TMI. I want to broadcast my thoughts over the internet. Isn't that the whole point of Twitter, YouTube and Facebook? If broadcasting my life to those who wants to see it, then I am proud to be a TMI guy.

Last Night's Adventure

2009-02-25T11:53:00.003-05:00

Last night, the wife and I tried to do something cool and fun. It didn't work out like we wanted it too. In fact, it was bad. I want to save the big announcement for when we release what we are doing and have a product (for lack of a better word) that we can both be proud of. So, until next time.

Big Announcement Coming

2009-02-24T11:21:00.003-05:00

The wife and I would like to give you a big announcement coming in the next couple of days. This has to do with a new thing that we will be doing and placing on a new blog for people to download and listen to.

That is all I have to mention at this time, but I do want to caution people, this is not an announcement about a new member of the family...just to let you know.

The "Study"

2009-02-23T11:00:00.002-05:00

Do you want to hear what I am tired of: Hearing about a new study that links golf swings to brain cancer. Every single week and sometimes every single day, I hear about a new study that is linking something that we do everyday to a cancer. And I’m not talking about the studies about second hand smoke and lung cancer. I’m talking about a study that link peanut oil to allergic reactions or a study that links cell phones to depression amongst dogs or a study that links fast food to high risk drivers. Can we spend our taxpayer money on more important things in this world?

Yes, I know that taxpayer money isn’t always spent on this, but a lot of it is. During the Clinton Administration, I remember that a budget bill was not going to be passed because a portion of the bill would have gone to a study in Wyoming that was measuring the effect of cow farts on the ozone. I know we need to protect the ozone, but are we going to outlaw cows because of their gas? If not, then what does this study really do?

If the government wants to conduct studies, then let’s do it for something useful like studying near Earth objects (asteroids that could cause a global extinction) or robots that could take over humanity (Terminator series or if you really want to go back, "I, Robot" [a book that I loved when I read it]).

GR Taking Off

2009-02-20T10:12:00.004-05:00

Geezer Radio is starting to take off and be sucessful. Check out these stat's.

Yesterday, Geezer Radio had:

33 Subscribers
26 Reaches (which means "they may view your content on a feed search engine or news filter site")

That is the highest it has ever been. Let's also break down how people are subscribing to our feed:

Google Feedfetcher - 8
Zune/3.1 - 8
iTunes (Windows) - 6
iTunes (Mac) - 5
FeedDemon - 1
Generic Java-based feed client - 1
Juice - 1
My Yahoo - 1
Windows RSS Platform - 1
urlfan-bot/1.0 - 1

I would also like to say that I do subscribe to my own podcast, and the reason I do is because I want to make sure the quality and feed is working correctly. Another reason I subscribe to my own feed is because McJeepers and Furgus have begun their own podcast under the same feed, and I have come to enjoy listening to their interviews and topics. It's a GREAT complement to the podcast that Spark and I do.

So thank you to everyone who listens in. Also, WE WANT FEEDBACK on how we can improve the experience for everyone who enjoys our show. So please drop one of the four of us a line and let us know what you are thinking.

Geezer Radio New Episode

2009-02-19T11:03:00.002-05:00

There is a new episode of Geezer Radio available for download. Special Episode: Hawk Sausage.

Digsby, the All Knowing

2009-02-18T10:33:00.002-05:00

I am going to venture off of my normal posts of hellfire and damnation towards people and events, and instead focus on praise. I know you might not feel right seeing me praise something, but you’ll just have to deal with it.

Digsby is perhaps one of my favorite applications, and I think that if you use multiple instant messaging services, multiple e-mails, and multiple social networks, then Digsby is for you. Digsby can include them all. I have AOL, Gmail, and Yahoo chat and e-mail. I would normally have to install the app for all three of these to get the functionality that Digsby offers. I added to the complexity of my life by then joining Twitter and Facebook, but with Digsby, I only have to log into one app to access them all.

So what does Digsby do for me? It logs me in and keeps me logged in to all of them. Some of you on Facebook may have noticed that I am always on Facebook, well, I’m actually just logged into Digsby and that keeps me logged into Facebook chat all the time. I’m not slacking off at work; I’m just logged in to chat through Digsby. Now, I get you are wondering why I have all of them logged in at work. Well, that’s easy to answer also, I have to contact people all over the country through chat, and some of them use Google chat, and other use AOL, and others still use Facebook chat. So staying logged into chat all day is a necessity.

Some of you might like this next feature, and others may not. When you create a Digsby account, you can install it on as many computers as you want and the settings will carry over. If I make a change to my Digsby settings on my work computer, they will carry over to my home computer with no problem at all.

I also hear that Digsby is still looking to improve by including Skype and your Xbox Friends list also. I would like to see both of them, but I am not sure how that would work. Anyway, take a look at the website and see if this program may interest you.

www.digsby.com

I Don’t Understand Why...

2009-02-17T10:06:00.002-05:00

Some people on this Earth go to great length to tear down someone they don’t like. For this example, I will use Facebook’s very own Fake Tony Romo. Now the profile lists that this is in fact a Tony Romo Facebook profile (And it’s not just Tony Romo. Sarah Palin, Barack Obama and Eli Manning, just to name a few, probably have someone out there claiming to be them and instead of just letting them be, they make fun of them),but it is one of the worst and most pathetic attempts at defaming and making fun of a person that I have ever seen. And personally, I think this could be considered computer fraud because someone signed up with his name and claims to be him. Okay, they aren’t making any money on it, but they are breaking the Facebook terms of service by doing it. But that’s not the reason why I am not happy with this poor excuse for a human.

The reason I am upset about this is that someone is using his (or her) free time to make fun of a famous person. Does this person, who claims to be Tony Romo but has the wrong birthday listed (as of yesterday and it might have been changed), even have a life? I can think of about a hundred other things I can do with my life other than take the time to make fun of someone one Facebook with a fake profile of someone. Why does society accept this?

Another thing that bothers me is that this person is so desperate to make fun of someone, who they can’t even begin to dream of measuring up to or competing against, that they go to great length to trick people into thinking that they are who they are not. Let me ask you this Fake Tony: How many touchdown passes have you thrown for a professional football team? How many multi-million dollar contracts have signed with a signing bonus? How many times have you had broken ribs in a football game and continued to play?

Instead of getting people to pay attention to you by defaming someone, go out and raise money for pediatric cancer. Instead of defaming someone, go out and volunteer as a youth adviser at your church. Instead of defaming someone, be a good husband or wife to your significant other by spending extra time with him/her. Instead of defaming someone, find a hobby that takes up this extra free time that you seem to have. (I've done all of these.)

Let me just lay it all out: Fake Tony, you are a pathetic human in need of a real life. Get one.

Cylons Everywhere

2009-02-16T11:22:00.001-05:00

I have to say that I am loving the final episodes of Battlestar Galactica. For those of you, who don’t watch it, SHAME ON YOU! It is a great series. But I will say that most of Season 3 and Season 4 are kind of boring and there didn’t really seem to be a lot of point to it, but with 10 episodes to go, it has picked up as my favorite show. I won’t put any spoilers about what has happened in the past couple of episodes, but I am loving it. And it’s not over yet. Even when the final episode airs, there is still more of the Battlestar universe to cover.

Battlestar Galactica: The Plan will cover the Cylons plan to nuke the 12 colonies. I hope they cover some of what is going on around Capirca and/or the Battlestar Galactica during the time the plan is being discussed. And a new series: Caprica is in development, and although I am not 100% behind this idea, I hope that it’s successful because I would love to see the first Cylon war made into a series. How cool would that be?

Busy Days

2009-02-13T12:04:00.003-05:00

It has been busy this week. Yesterday, I had DirecTV come out and install an HD Satellite dish. They did a good job, and I was pleased with their work. I also had to publish a podcast (GR:Episode 20 - Fracked) and have heard some pretty good feedback.

But today also is Friday, also known as the end of the week. It's also Valentine's day tomorrow. I didn't get my wife flowers for this weekend, and instead bought some for her yesterday. It was a combo of roses and tulips (I think) with some baby's breath as filler. I got it not because it was Valentines day, but because she's had a bad week and needed some cheering up. And although my wife is sick, I imagine that it did cheer her up a little. If I can make my wife smile at least once every day for the rest of her life, I will consider my life complete. She is so wonderful...

Episode 20 of GR

2009-02-12T10:41:00.000-05:00

Episode 20 of Geezer Radio will be up sometime today.

Guilty Satisfaction

2009-02-11T10:18:00.000-05:00

I am guilty of one of the greatest moments of my life. A while back, I blogged about how joining Facebook was a mistake because I didn't really find a whole lot of friends from high school that I wanted to reconnect with. Well, that stance hasn't changed, but I do love Facebook. It's a one stop shop for me to post my blog, to put a link to a favorite video or website. I have also connected with a lot of Geezer friends that I normally wouldn't have gotten in contact with. But this morning, I got to have one brilliant moment of giving the middle finger to an ex-friend that always treated me like crap in high school.

Even thought I'm not going to mention his name, this guy was one of the most two face friends that I have ever had. Not going into details, but after high school, I realized that he wasn't much of a friend as I thought he was. Well, today, he sent me a friends request over Facebook, and in a moment of pure clarity, I clicked the "Ignore" button. I started to shake uncontrollably after that, but not from anger or me being scared. I was shaking out of joy. This may sound silly, but I feel like I actually stood up for myself in a way that I was never able to do in high school. I know that sounds stupid from a 30 year-old, but that's how I felt.

But I have to add this, because I would feel like I cheated you if I didn't mention this. This friend that tried to be my "friend" probably was waiting for me to send him an invite, just because he thought that I was this hanger on, but he was wrong. And now that I write this, I kind of regret not finding out why he took so long, or if he didn't see me until this morning. Some things I need to find out right away, and other things can remain a mystery and I don't care. Odd, don't you think?

In Bed

2009-02-10T10:42:00.001-05:00

My wife has this unusual, but very funny thing she likes to do. Whenever she opens up a fortune cookie (these day’s they should be called advice or Zen cookies), she’ll read out what is on the little piece of paper and after the last words, she’ll include the words: in bed. Most of the time, it’s a really mundane sentence that makes no sense, but Sunday, me, my mom and the wife all got the following:

My mom got: Idleness is the holiday of fools...in bed.
The wife got: You will pass a difficult test that will make you happier...in bed.
I got: Good things are being said about you...in bed.

I thought that these three were the funniest I have ever seen, and I couldn’t help but laugh at them all.

Now for the usual fair. Last night was the most fun I have had playing online in a long, LONG time. I started out by beating Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, then hopped into a Gears 2 room for the first time in forever. It had nearly been two months since the last Gears 2 night, and I finally remember what I had been missing. I then hopped into a Left 4 Dead room to play some versus. That pretty much ended my night. And what a fun night it was.

Sorry for not posting anything yesterday. I was so busy at work, that I didn’t get the chance. And Sunday night, I was surprised to find out that I have a lot more readers than I thought I did before. I need to keep this updated if that's the case.

Agreeing with the Soapbox

2009-02-06T11:09:00.003-05:00

Please check this video out, but be careful, it's not a 100% SFW.

With all that is going on between Sony and Microsoft trying to win a console war, people have taken sides, just like with everything else in this world, and this is the end result. Why do we have to so divided and be so emotional? I think it goes just a little deeper than having a fan favorite. I think the real issue is that everyone wants to have an opinion, think they are right about it and tell it like they see it. That is exactly what has happened with respect to electronic companies. They are called fanboys and to them, one company can do no wrong. Let me give an example.

Yesterday, I got into a discussion with a like minded individual that I have had discussion with before. He basically stated that Apple operating systems are vastly superior to Microsoft operating systems. Now, that being his opinion, I can't argue with that, because no matter how much you argue with someone, their opinion means that they are right. The last time I used a Mac was in high school (12 years ago) and I used to own an iPod. I HATED THE iPod...with a passion. The reason: no customization. The Zune is completely customizable. You can put whatever background you want on there, and Microsoft won't tell you "you can't do that". Does that mean the Zune is better than an iPod? Yes, but only in my eyes. He would probably disagree, and in his eyes, he would be right.

Sony and Microsoft have gone at it for years, and they both have loyal fanboys. I am a fanboy of neither. I own both consoles, and while I think the 360 is superior to the PS3, that doesn't mean the PS3 can't have anything good (Killzone 2 Demo was AWESOME). The fanboy wars need to stop. In reality, we all need to stop and smell the roses and be nice to each others opinion. So, the next time you think it would be fun to incite a fanboy war, watch this video and remember, you could be the guy that Adam Sessler points out.

Cheese for the Tortured Artist

2009-02-05T10:24:00.000-05:00

So, Christian Bale went on a crazy tirade when someone moved his cheese. Okay, so no one really moved his cheese, but someone did interrupt his scene and he went crazy. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, please Google: Christian Bale Tirade, but be careful that it may not be SFW.) Anyway, what is the end result in all of that? If you listen to the audio, he pretty much loses his cool and starts cursing out someone from moving into his line of vision during a really intense scene. But was it wrong? Did he have the right to curse that person out? Let’s analyze.

Now, I’m not an actor, nor am I a person of consequence that could be considered famous. I do have a small cult following, but with that said, I can hurt feelings when I write or say something (it just doesn’t make it onto youtube...yet) and it hurts real feelings in real people. What I wrote yesterday, was a prime example of something that could have hurt feelings, even though I was writing about my feelings. So, if I did that, I am sorry.

Slinger, if you read this, please know that I have no hurt feelings towards you or anyone else in the GGSE. I don’t think what happened was intended at all, but when I first saw it, it seemed that way. Looking back, it seems kind of silly. So, I hope you and anyone else who was hurt by it can accept my apology.

Now, back to Christian Bale, did he hurt feelings when he went off on that tirade? Probably. But people do that. I can hit a pretty big boiling point given the right circumstances. And one of the ultimate questions that will need to answered is, will this hurt his career. I’m not sure. When I think of Christian Bale, I think of a guy who is committed to his work. He should be. Anyone who wants to be respected in their job should care about what they do. If they don’t care, would you hire them? I wouldn’t.

The fact is that the way he threw his fit made me think that he cares more than just some actor trying to get a million dollar pay day. It actually makes me like him more because he cares about the job he is doing. Unfortunately, the movie industry (and society as a whole) relies on people getting along.

But there are instances when someone can go “postal”. I couldn’t tell you how many times I have wanted to yell at someone and tell them that they were wrong, and even though I know that, the situation requires diplomacy, so I must hold my tongue. So what Christian Bale did might hurt his career and right now, I give it a 10% chance at doing that, only because the Batman series is so hot at this moment. But he needs to keep temper under control.

Stop Moving My Cheese!

2009-02-04T09:54:00.000-05:00

There is a good book out there called, "Who Moved My Cheese". I haven't yet read that book, but I think that I need to put that on my reading list. Why? You may ask, well, I am having a VERY difficult time figuring out if I am going to the GGSE Meet and Greet (M&G) in Orlando in May. I am kind of getting upset at all the changes this year.

It all started last month when I was told that the M&G would be in Orlando. Now, when I first heard the idea of it being in Orlando, I was against it. Mainly because I had become accustom to Atlanta, and thought that that was the perfect setup. After it was finalized and set in Orlando, I made peace with the decision and put my full weight behind it. I got behind it so much, that I called my dad, who lives in Inverness and asked if he could come by Orlando while I was there to visit (he was thrilled). Okay, so it's set for the first weekend of May in Orlando. Well, then they announced that it might get delayed to the second week, but it wasn't set in stone. A week later, it's been moved to the 3rd week in May and I am not happy! Why? Why am I so upset about this? The reason: I specifically told everyone that I can't make it that weekend, and what do they do? They schedule it for that weekend. I know this may not have been the intention, but it seems like they did that on purpose and they don't want me to go this year. I'm holding out the hope that is not the case, and it probably isn't but I do have to say, it seems like it.

Now the above situation started with the someone moving my cheese (having it in Orlando, instead of Atlanta where I was comfortable), but is now it's turning into whether I can go or not because of the circumstances of my life.

Although I have yet to confirm whether I can make it now or not, I do have to say that this is symptomatic of a larger problem for me. What problem is that? Well, my sister once said I had an aversion to change, and while I disagree with that in it's totalitarian whole, I can't help but say that when I get comfortable with something one way, I like it to stay that way. When I go to restaurants, I usually get the same thing, and you know what? I like it that way! Do I need to change what I eat when I visit a certain restaurant, or listen to a different radio station once in a while, or like No Doubt's "It's My Life" over the original? I guess I need to move my cheese.

But...

I like my cheese where I know it's tasty and good.

T-Rex Wife

2009-02-03T10:50:00.002-05:00

My wife is a T-Rex. That's just a simple fact. Why do I say this? Does she scare me? Not most of the time. Does she threaten to eat me? Never. So, why do I call her a T-Rex? The reason lies in this: Whenever she get's home from work, she stands in front of me with her arms positioned so that they look like a T-Rex's upper arms. Also, if I don't move she will not be able to find me... I wish I had a picture and maybe one day I will, and when I do I will have to post it.

Okay, so this is very anti-climatic in description, but if you see the picture, you'll understand...maybe.

Episode 19

2009-02-02T11:11:00.000-05:00

Episode 19 of Geezer Radio will be posted today. Tomorrow I will be covering why my wife is a T-Rex.

Moving On

2009-01-30T11:39:00.002-05:00

Does anyone else have an addiction to a legalized drug that they accidentally keep falling back into? That drug for me is caffeine. For those of you who don't know, I don't drink any type of coffee and I never have, but I used to drink the crap out of Pepsi and Coke. But in August of 2001, I decided that my addiction was too much. If I went two or three days without it, then I would start getting the shakes, a loss of patience and a really bad temper. So, it was time to stop, and I did...cold turkey.

Then came the game of what can I drink, what can I eat and how much of it is within my limits. Well, I found new drinks to consume. Ginger Ale, Sprite, and Sierra Mist became my new best friends. In fact, everyday for the past 7 months, I have had a 24 oz of Schweppes Caffeine Free Ginger Ale on my desk to drink. But that hasn't completely solved the problem. There is one substance on this planet that I can't resist, no matter how hard I try: Chocolate. Chocolate is now my Achilles Heel, and one that I don't think I can avoid...I just like it too much.

Response to 100 to Nothing

2009-01-29T11:27:00.005-05:00

Thanks for the responses. First of all, I had only read what was on FoxNews and never got to the details that appeared on my blog yesterday. I would like to say that, yes that does go a long way to explaining things further. But I would like to point out a couple of things.
1. The probable reason that the score went up to 100, which may be pointed out but I'm not aware of it, could be that the Ref's wouldn't call the game until that point.
2. The teams seemed pretty equal to me. No they weren't going to the pro's in 4 years, but they were there to play.
3. What is defined as "special needs". In high school, I was skinny, lanky and had asthma, but when I played basketball and when I lost big (which was often), I didn't ask for a forfeit, or complain. I accepted the loss as just that: a loss. There was no clause in PE that said asthma kids can't play sports.
Do I feel sorry for the group that lost, yes, but I still don't think the other kid should have been fired for doing his/her job. Nor do I think that the winning team should have to forfeit the game. Just my 2 cents.

100 to Nothing

2009-01-28T10:00:00.003-05:00

Why are so many people making a big deal about a high school girls basketball being beat 100 to nothing? Why? What's even worse is that the team that won, their coach was fired for saying that they weren't sorry. Why should he/she (I'm not sure) be sorry for his team winning? One thing that professional and most college sports teams know is that there is no trophy for coming in last place. Did the Cowboys get a trophy for not making the playoffs and coming in third in the division? No, they didn't. I don't know why we, as a society, have to pamper the feelings of our youth. I didn't win every championship in Tee-Ball, but I was handed a trophy that was little and was called the loser's trophy. In fact, getting that trophy was the worst thing you could get because that meant that you DIDN'T WIN!

That coach shouldn't have fired. The team that won shouldn't have to forfeit. That team was prepared, they executed and they won. They beat the pulp out of a team that obviously didn't care enough to give a little bit more effort to score just ONE goal. Not ONE! Stop coddling our youth, especially high school aged youth, and treat them like the adults that we want them to grow into. Because when they get into the real world, they are in for a very rude awakening.

A Week into Facebook and...

2009-01-26T11:39:00.002-05:00

I've been on Facebook for a full week now, and I have to say that my opinion has near completely changed. The reason: it has completely revolutionized the way I keep in touch with my friends who are on Facebook. For instance, I talk to my wife in person all the time, but since Facebook, I get IM requests from her when she is sitting next to me on the couch. Spark and I can now chat over IM and better organize how and when we will be doing podcasts.

Another thing that has been great is that I have reconnected with friends that I haven't seen in years (none from my high school as I have yet to befriend one of them). One person, whom I will not mention, was one of my best friends when I was growing up, and I haven't heard from her in years. Well, she joined Facebook over the weekend and added me as a friend. When she is on chat, we can now talk. Her father is also someone that I haven't talked to in years and can now that we are both on Facebook.

But that's not all. Being a part of GeezerGamers, I've become friends with a lot of people who I've only know as GamerTags. With Facebook, I've gotten to know them more as a person: I know their real names, seen pictures of them and their significant others and realized that there is more to them than playing games.

Family member that live in other states/counties/cities/countries are easier to talk to also. I can now see what they are up to and comment on their status'. In fact, I think commenting on their status is one of the more interesting things that I enjoy about Facebook. And my wife, has her fun in this department also...

So overall, I don't regret joining Facebook...yet. I do, though, have to be careful of my status when I am talking about a co-worker, because a lot of them are on Facebook also.

Historic Week

2009-01-23T11:26:00.003-05:00

This has truly been a historical week. We all know the headlines, but do we know what has actually happened. Have we let it sink in yet? We have a new President of the United States of America. The leader of the free world, and the most powerful man in the world (I bet his wife is in for a shock on that one). But what does this mean for us? Does this mean that I will get paid more? No. Does this mean that my job is more secure than on Monday. No. What this means to me and you is that fresh leadership is now in the White House (I avoided the words 'better', etc... because I think those are very subjective words).

And another thing that is historic is that we had a transition of power that is unequal in this world. No riots (except from the people who wanted to see Obama speak), no troops on the streets (except those protecting Bush and Obama) and no deaths occurred moving from one form of leadership to the next. And as I look back, this transition was far more graceful than the transition from Clinton to Bush. Do you remember when all of the "W" keys were removed from keyboards in January of 2001? How about the lunch that Bush had with Gore that lasted 10 minutes? Bush showed me something that I knew he had in him: Gracefulness.

He was graceful throughout his presidency. And I think that will be Bush's legacy. Okay, I'll be the first to admit that all his policies weren't the most popular, but I honestly believe that he was a good man and trying to do the right thing. A lot of people called him a buffoon, but he had to make a lot of tough decisions in order to get us past some VERY traumatic times in our nations history. I, for one, will miss him.

Another historic thing that I think is being overlooked is that this is the first time in our nations history when I was able to watch a live stream of the inauguration directly from my laptop at work. This is also the first time formats such as podcasts, video podcasts and live streaming has been used by politicians. Will Obama podcast every State of the Union address? Will he set up a podcast feed for every speech that he gives? How about press briefings from secretary and himself?

This is a new era. This is the new media era, where politicians will have to start embracing new media formats and new ways to communicate with America. Wake up Republicans, the new era has begun.

Number of Things to Post

2009-01-22T10:48:00.001-05:00

I have a number of things I want to post blogs about, but these day's I just don't have the time. Please be patient and I will be back with interesting dribble that you are all interested in. Peace out!

The New Year Started Monday

2009-01-21T11:10:00.002-05:00

I had this long post about how wonderful the transition of power was from the Bush White House to the Obama White House, but today, I realize something. I've got my swagger back. You know what I mean right? In case you don't, what I'm talking about is having the want and not need to keep things updated, reviewing. Christmas and the New Year completely took it out of me, and now I've got it back. Right now, I am dancing to music in my cubicle and IT IS WONDERFUL!!!!

Welcome

2009-01-20T10:25:00.001-05:00

Due to the inauguration of the new President, my regularly scheduled post will be delayed until tomorrow.

Opening Old Wounds

2009-01-19T11:15:00.005-05:00

Over the weekend, I caved into peer pressure and joined Facebook. It wasn't necessarily that I was narcissistic and needed to be everywhere. It had more to do with me being able to connect with friends that I haven't seen in years. So, I signed up. And then I got the shock of my life...a lot of the people that I went to high school with and wanted to connect with again...I realized where a-holes and I had no want to talk with them at all. In fact, as I was browsing them, I started to get a little upset at a couple of the people when I saw their names and pictures. It REALLY got me mad. And so far, I have not asked a single person from my high school to be friends, and knowing some of them, I bet they were saying "This guy is a total hanger-on and he'll send us an friend invite" or "I'm going to wait and see if he wants to talk to us."

As far as I am concerned, they are all dead to me, and I'm in no way, shape or form ready to re-connect with them. On the flip side, I have connected with a couple of old friends that I haven't talked with in years and a lot of my family and my wife's family are on Facebook and it will be interesting to see how well I get to know them, now that I can talk with them.

Circuit City Closing?

2009-01-16T11:53:00.002-05:00

First, read this.

Now, let's discuss. They are actually asking for a bankruptcy court to liquidate their assets, which in essence means that they will be closing all their stores. What does that mean us? Best Buy has no real competition now, as far as I can tell. Richmond, VA (the city in which I live) is going to be going through an even tougher time with the real estate and job markets because 10,000+ people will probably be laid off. What this means is my beloved Richmond, VA will continue in this economic downturn for years to come.

It's a sad day in Richmond.

But I can say that Circuit City had it coming. Over the past couple of years, I have had nothing but bad experiences when I go there to shop. What used to be my favorite place to shop became my least favorite. They did it to themselves. But I'm sorry to see them go, because competition breeds competitiveness.

What Is Your "Best Job"

2009-01-15T10:34:00.004-05:00

I have to say that when I saw this, I was a little skeptical, but I do have to say that I love this opportunity. Who on this Earth wouldn't want to sit on a beach, snorkel, live in a million dollar villa and get paid to do it? Would I quit my job for this opportunity? HELL YES!!! But I'll never get to do it. I'm just not that lucky. Good looking, yes...that lucky, no. Thousands of people are doing everything in their might to get that job, and I would love to be the one that is reviewing the video's people are sending in.

But what would you do to get this job? Would you consider this the "Best Job Ever"? Would you quit your job if you were offered this job and only had it for only six months?

Tulu

2009-01-14T12:22:00.000-05:00

:~)

Picked Up

2009-01-13T10:28:00.004-05:00

Last night was a blast. A lot of good things came out of last night. The first of which was that the wife and I had a great night of just laying down and watching a movie. Not the greatest movie of all times, but it is one of the funnier movies that I like to watch. I played Left 4 Dead, a VERY repetitive but GOOD game, and picked up two more achievements worth 40 GS total.

But the most exciting thing to happen was that I picked up Guitar Hero: Aerosmith for $20. I remember posting earlier that I thought it was a good idea of a game, but at a $50 or higher pricetag was just too much for too little. Well, it finally dropped to a price that the wife and I could agree on and picked it up. And I have to say that I am so looking forward to playing and unlocking some of those achievements.

Got Scammed?

2009-01-12T10:50:00.010-05:00

I think that I got scammed yesterday, and fortunately, no harm has come from this. It all started on Sunday, when I logged into my Xbox and saw a message from two friends. It said that a profile with my Xbox 360 gamertag was created and that I should claim it. Well, I went to the site, and checked it out. It looked really cool. It was like my "360 Can Blog" but cooler. Better graphics, darker colors, and it looked like something that was made in this decade. So, I threw caution to the wind and signed up. I thought it was REALLY weird when it asked me for my passport e-mail login and password, and I HAD to send all my friends on my Friends List asking them to sign up. But I did it, even though I knew that my friends wouldn't be happy about it (I get 1 2 spam messages a week, and never send them out on non-holidays, so I thought that I could get away with one). I then finished set-up of my profile and briefly forgot about it.

When I returned home last night, I saw a message from one of my friends (CyberKnight) on my 360 saying that it was a spam site and that I should change my password, which I did immediately. Do I think it's a scam sight? Maybe, but with my password changed and me not updating the site, I think I might be okay.

Also, thank you CyberKnight. I appreciate you giving me the heads up.

Control

2009-01-09T11:45:00.002-05:00

One of my co-workers is given a lot of grief because his wife won't allow him to buy from 5 Guys Burgers and Fries because it is too expensive. Another of my co-workers won't get an XBL 12 Month Gold card because it's too expensive. In today's economy, I can sort of understand that, but is that the real reason?

No, I think the real reason is that their wives control the spending around the house. I personally think that those who control the finances in the household, controls the household.

And before you ask, I control the finances at my house.

Tired

2009-01-08T09:53:00.002-05:00

I am pretty tired today, so this one will be short...

Pacman Jones was released from the Cowboys. GOOD! He was a blight on this team and now, he's gone. Joe DeCamillis was hired as the Special Teams coach to replace Bruce Read. This is a GOOD thing. My estimation of the Cowboys going 6-10 next season has gone up to being 7-9. I think they will win one game due to their special teams.

Fresh Ears

2009-01-07T10:49:00.003-05:00

The other day, I head this song that I absolutely loved. It was fresh, upbeat and very catchy. I wanted to download it to my Zune immediately, but then I realized something. I haven't listened to music in the past week. Why? Well, I listen to more podcasts these days than I do music. Then the shocker came. Its not just the music that I'm neglecting. It's movies too. And it all has to do with new/fresh content. Songs, movies and TV episodes never change. With podcasts, there is new content with each one. They are cheap to make and cheap to distribute. With movies, I can now stream new content whenever I want with Netflix and Hulu, so what's the point of watching the same movie again and again, when I can steam something new whenever I get the chance. I can't wait for the next 3 years to see what technology I will be using then.

And, just to let you know, I didn't download that song...yet.

They Are Back

2009-01-06T10:38:00.001-05:00

My podcasts are back to normal. The two week period of Christmas and New Years led to a near void of new daily podcasts because they were on vacation. Now, the vacations are over, and everyone is back on their normal schedule. My ears are happy!

Death of a Childhood Memory

2009-01-05T11:13:00.001-05:00

Like so many that had come before it, one of my last childhood memories was destroyed over the weekend, and it came in the form of a movie. I can't describe the disappointment that I felt after watching the move Death Before Dishonor because it brings up such a familiar fact of my life: things I cherished in childhood have turned into nightmares at this time of my life.

Take my childhood home as an example. When I was growing up there, that house had the feel of a castle with numerous cavernous rooms. I could run all day and not be able to find all the hiding spots, nooks and crannies available to hide in. It wasn't until years later, after we moved out of the house (in 1988) and my sisters re-purchase of that house in 1999 that I realized how differently that house was from my memories. Cuby(?) holes that I could lay flat in, returned to my conscience as a place that I would have to get into a ball to fit in. My old room, then a huge place to play G.I.Joe in, looked about the size of my current full bathroom. The kitchen that seemed like a dinner that was always ready to feed a dozen people, couldn't sit five at one time.

It was to this disappointment that I was greeted when watching Death Before Dishonor. Let me preface this with saying that it had been at least 20 years since the last time I had seen that movie, and that was putting a conservative estimate on it. What did I remember from this movie when I was in single digit age that made it such a majestic movie? Dead American's being thrown out of a van to be left on the street in front of an American Embassy and a lone Marine who would dealt swift and dutiful punishment to the defenders of evil. A lone American Marine swiftly, silently and thoroughly killing every perpetrator against America. A lone Marine restoring hope and honor to a desecrated flag and uniform in the name of justice and the Marine Corps motto Semper Fidelis (which means: Always Faithful). A lone Marine that was fully armed and REALLY dangerous. That Marine was more than a movie Marine, he was a Marine that I once saw in my father (a one time Marine, who wore the same uniform): a heroic man whom I could idolize.

What I got, though, turned out to be more like reality. The same run and gun mentality that seemed to perpetrate all military movies from the 80's and 90's. A since of a good guy running through waves of enemies with little to no regard, miraculously coming out of the battle uninjured. Yes, it made for an exciting movie when I was 8 or 9 years old, but Saturday, it turned out to be exactly like my dad: dated, old and not worth believing. As I write this, I can't believe that at one time I idolized that movie, but thinking back to those days, it sure was something that I could believe in, and even though the movie was a footnote in Hollywood, that movie did shape my life. But my expectations that it would be the same mystic movie were wildly unjustified.

Changes

2009-01-02T10:45:00.002-05:00

Okay, so my insistence for Offensive Coordinator Jason Garrett, Offensive Line Coach Hudson Houck, and Conditioning Coach Joe Jurazek need to go, hasn't yet come to fruition, but Special Teams Coach Bruce Read has been fired from the Dallas Cowboys coaching staff and that is a good move. Special teams has been an absolute disaster for the Cowboys this year. From week one on, it has been absolutely atrocious. There has been no excuse for why it has been this bad for two years in a row. Now, things will change. But, who do you bring in?

Joe DeCamilla of Jacksonville would be a really good choice, and so would Joe Avezzano, but he's been retired for a few years and would probably not want to come out of retirement if asked. So, the questions begin.

But I will make this prediction. Next year, the Dallas Cowboys will have a 6-10 record.

Happy New Year

2008-12-31T09:39:00.001-05:00

I will take one day...or two days...from my Cowboys venting/ranting to wish all my readers a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Another Day, Another Excuse

2008-12-30T10:38:00.002-05:00

Two days after the really big loss and it still hurts. And everyone seems to want to blame one person different from the previous person. Cut Romo, because he can't win the big game. Fire Wade Phillips, because he's never won a playoff game. Fire Jason Garrett, because the defense knows his scheme. Cut Terrell Owens, because he's not a team player and will destroy the Cowboys, etc, etc, etc. Some of them I agree with, and others I can't understand.

From someone who's seen all sixteen games minus a couple of halves, I can tell you this, two things contributed to their bad season. Kyle Kosair, starting Guard on the offensive line, was on IR (injured reserve) for most of the season. Tony Romo, the starting QB, can't throw the ball acurately when he has a 250lb linebacker starring him in the face on almost every play. Don't blame Tony Romo, blame he offensive line. The second thing that comes to mind is the lack of innovation on the offense. Offensive Coordinator Jason Garrett could no longer fool the defense, and when the defense knows what you are going to do, then you have BIG/HUGE/GINORMOUS problems. And that is what happened.

But that's not the bad thing. The bad thing is that this happens EVERY year! Not the OLG going out for the season, or the OC not being able to fool the defense. No, what I'm referring too is that every season, on person on the offense gets injured and the entire team falls apart. In '06, it was Running Back Julius Jones that was injured and things fell apart. Last year, it was Terrell Owens. This year, it was RB Felix Jones, OLG Kyle Kosair and RB Marion Barber.

On the bright side, Jason Garrett is being courted by Detriot to take over as the Head Coach. Jason, please, take that job.

Dallas
Home: N.Y. Giants, Philadelphia, Washington, Atlanta, Carolina, Seattle, Oakland, San Diego
Away: N.Y. Giants, Philadelphia, Washington, New Orleans, Tampa Bay, Green Bay, Denver, Kansas City

Cowboys = Cubs?

2008-12-29T10:44:00.002-05:00

I would like to preface this with the fact that I am a die hard Cowboys fan. I have written before about how the Cowboys are the most loved and the most hated team in the NFL, and I would have to say that I am in the first category. I live and die by the Cowboys every season, and right now, I'm dying. I can't and wont blame Tony Romo. In fact, I believe that he has received a bad wrap for someone else mistake. What is causing this drought? Well, I honestly believe that its not the players, it's the coaches. Offensive Coordinator Jason Garrett, Offensive Line Coach Hudson Houck, and Conditioning Coach Joe Jurazek need to go.

Let's start with the Jason Garrett. Every defense that plays the Cowboys knows what plays are going to be called. There whole point to an offense is that after a while, they start to vary the plays to keep the defense off it's balance. That hasn't happened. For the second week in a row, I heard that the defense knew what was going to be called, before the hiked the ball. Not acceptable. Hudson Houck is back as an offensive line coach, and he couldn't have had a worse year, but at least for him, he has am excuse: Kyle Koisar, and Montre Holland were lost to injuries. Corey Proctor has been outright HORRIBLE! CUT HIM or put him on defense. Joe Jurazek has been the the conditioning coach since 1997...and the Cowboys haven't won a playoff game in all that time. Any other question?

Well, I can't help but say, 'Well, wait 'till next year'. And I have been saying that for two years now. And I'm going to say it again. Next year will be better. (I can say it, but I'm not sure that I believe it)

On another note, my mother suffered what was considered a minor heart attack, but actually it was a rapid heart beat and as taken to the hospital in Lynchburg on Friday. I didn't find out until the next day. She's doing much better now, but I can't say I was scared. I was worried, but for one reason or another I was never scared. Maybe I knew that she would be okay. I hope that was the case.

The Days of No Productivity

2008-12-26T10:50:00.002-05:00

This past week has been BORING! I understand why, but to me, the bosses of the world should just give us these days off, because we don't actually do anything anyway. Please bosses of America, let us take the day off instead of us goofing off all week!

Happy Holidays

2008-12-24T10:00:00.000-05:00

Just want to wish everyone a Happy Holidays and a Merry Christmas!

Hulu And Netflix...I Love You

2008-12-23T11:16:00.000-05:00

I love streaming video. I never did get into it before because it was such a hassle and not optimal for sitting on my couch and holding a computer in my lap, for a long period of time. Netflix was pretty good at having the discs of that season on hand to ship me, so I never felt like it was absolutely necessary to stream it. But that has since changed. Hulu, and Netflix have stepped up to the plate and done something that has completely changed my buying and watching habits. 1. I no longer watch shows that I have on DVD over and over again, which is a shame, considering how much money I have put into that. 2. I can now enjoy watching new content on a daily basis. But there are differences.

I would have to give the upper hand to Netflix for three reasons. You can stream movies off of an Xbox 360 from Netflix (and in some cases in HD) and you can’t (at this time) from Hulu. You can have movies delivered directly to your house from Netflix but not from Hulu (and I don’t think that it will ever be an option). But I think it’s the next part that is most important. Netflix steaming is a MUCH better quality than Hulu. In fact, the comparison isn’t even close. If I watch Hulu on a computer, the image is very rough. Netflix, on the other hand, can stream onto a 50” plasma and look better than some DVD’s I’ve seen.

So, thank you to Netflix and Hulu for giving me things to do while I play!

So Much To Write

2008-12-22T13:04:00.001-05:00

I have so much to write, but this being the holiday season, I have absolutely no time to write it all.

The Magic Number

2008-12-19T12:17:00.001-05:00

This is my 200th post! W00T!

GOTY

2008-12-18T12:26:00.000-05:00

The next episode of Geezer Radio (Skypecast Episode 4: GOTY) is ready for download.

Why Go Home?

2008-12-17T10:31:00.001-05:00

Oh, Give me a home...okay, so I won’t ever win American Idol, but I do have something to get off my chest about Sony’s new, revolutionary, totally, like, awesome service: Home. When you first boot up your PS3, you don’t get any kind of prompt that asks you to download it, instead you need to go to the PlayStation Store and enter a code in order to download it (I got into the Beta and that’s probably why I had to do it that way). That was the intro to my experience to Home. I wish it were easier, but for the PS3, nothing including games, playing online and those pain in the ass monthly downloads to update my firmware has ever been easy. And guess what; creating an Avatar isn’t easy either. As opposed to my 360 Avatar that was fun and easy, this one was close to creating an exact digital copy of yourself. You could customize just about every facet of your avatar, which is both tedious and time consuming.

Once that’s finish, your prompted to go directly into your Home. I must admit, when I first saw my “Home”, I was immediately jealous that it wasn’t my real home. I had a great view of a beautiful harbor with sail boats and yachts and the most beautiful water that came in close second to the beauty of St. Maartin’s crystal clear water. But, with a 50” plasma and an HDMI connector, what would you expect. I thought that I had lucked out and gotten a primo spot, but it turns out that a lot of other gamers got the exact same thing. Although, I should have been disappointed, I just said, “Figures.”

There is only a couple things you could do in your “home” and that mainly consisted of dancing to no music, watching a bubble machine, re-arrange furniture and sit on the porch and listen to the digital birds chirping somewhere in the distance. I decided to venture out and enjoy some company, so I tried to venture out my door. I was met with a “Please download Central Plaza 39.5 MB”. Okay, so I had to wait for that. After a few minutes, I walked back to the door and ventured out for my first trip into the Home world. I was impressed for about three minutes, and that consisted of three minutes of watching a trailer on a GIANT jumbotron-sized TV that was showing a game trailer for the PS3 (nice product placement, Sony). I then ventured out and saw the theater and was surprised that all I could do was watch a making of trailer for SOCOM: Confrontation. After that I went to the mall and looked at all the empty shops. Then it was on to the bowling alley, but I didn’t go in there. After being disappointed for ten full minutes, I decided to socialize so I walked to a little outside dance floor and started to dance, although, it wasn’t that successful, because no one was paying attention to me (all the other guys were huddled around these two women). So, I decided to just pack it in.

What a waste of my time. I didn’t buy a PS3 so that I can walk around in a virtual world an be absolutely bored. I could have caught a movie, but it was just some making of video and didn’t offer me the option of watching something I wanted. Not only that, but it wasn’t even private, which makes me believe that going forward, all the movies that they will be showing, will not be chosen by me. So much for a user controlled world. Let’s just call Home, what it really is: One Big Advertisement for Sony.

Future Weapon Used

2008-12-16T11:01:00.001-05:00

I read today that the police in Italy were being harassed by laser weapons! WOW! So it has begun! I think this is both awesome and frightening. On the one hand, I like the fact that people have found a use for laser weapons. On the other hand, it’s scary because someone, outside of the military, has USED these weapons in an aggressive way. These “attacks” on the Italy police were only to blind them, but if you amplify them with a higher power battery, you could have a weapon that can kill. What makes a laser more dangerous than a gun? Lasers can shoot in hurricane force winds without any effect on the beam, there is no kick-back from firing it and in zero atmosphere no visible trace. AND its ultra portable and very dangerous if used at higher powers. Imagine a man sitting on the shore of a beach, and takes out this weird looking gun. Takes aim at an airplane and fires. Next thing you hear is that 200+ people died in a plane “accident”, and there is NO explanation to why the plane crashed. Scary!

A Lot Of Thoughts

2008-12-15T11:12:00.002-05:00

I have a lot of thoughts rumbling through my head, but no time to organize them. Maybe I will one of these days, but I don't think it's going to be today.

Thoughts on my mind;
PlayStation Home
Dallas' Victory over the Giants
Smart Phones...

Anyway, look for those in the upcoming days...unless I don't get time to write them up.

No Fantasy, No Problem

2008-12-12T11:05:00.001-05:00

This is the first year in many, probably 9, that I haven’t played fantasy football, and you know what? I don’t miss it at all. It’s like a pain in your body. When it’s gone, you don’t remember what it was like or how it felt. So Happy.

Finally Cracked 18,000

2008-12-11T12:26:00.003-05:00

I finally got to 18,000 in Gamerscore. It wasn't easy and that's what makes it so satisfying. This time, I actually played through tough games like Gears of War 2, Fable 2 and Left 4 Dead to get there. Now, 19,000 and then the next step 20,000. I just hope that I get a couple games that motivate me to play them all the way through and get the achievements.

This reminds me, MS put in Achievements so that I/we could feel like we accomplished something. Most of the time, I feel like achievements are just something that makes me want to play a game, but this past 1000 points, it actually seemed like I accomplished something. But I think the most enjoyable/worthy 1000 Gamerscore I ever earned was playing COD2 on Veteran. That was hard!

More Numbers

2008-12-10T10:50:00.002-05:00

1 - number of days before PlayStaion Home is released for an open beta

15 - number of days until Christmas Day

4.4 - the magnitude of the Earthquake that hit Central California

2 - number of days until the weekend

5 - number of posts until I hit 200 for this blog

GR Episode 16

2008-12-09T12:29:00.000-05:00

...is now available for download.

The Numbers

2008-12-08T11:13:00.006-05:00

7 - posts I need before I have 200.

50 - more gamerscore until I hit 18,000.

$1.44 - the lowest price of gas.

7 - how many points the Cowboys lost by.

10 - how many points the Cowboys led by halfway into the 4th quarter.

1 - the number of women that make my heart skip when I see them.

25 - the age of the one woman that makes my heart skip.

Blackout!

2008-12-05T11:06:00.000-05:00

I was playing Left 4 Dead last night and I had a ball. That game is one of the more amusing fun games that I have played in some time. The purpose of this game is to get from one point to the next and kill everything not human in between. In these days of story based games and the attempt at creating a movie that you can play, this game takes the opposite direction and gives you nothing but running and gunning. It also offers great 4-player co-op and a new take on versus.

But the game does have one minor flaw. When playing 4-player co-op online, for some reason, when you disconnect the power to the router and modem, you can’t continue playing online with your friends. How did I find this out? Well, my wonderful wife, who I love very much, decided to take the blow dryer downstairs because there was a better mirror in the downstairs bathroom, and that resulted in blowing the circuit breaker for the router...and modem...and everything else downstairs.

But other than that, the game is a gem and might come in as a game of the year candidate.

My Angst with Comcast

2008-12-04T10:26:00.000-05:00

Since I teased you with my issue with Comcast Cable Internet yesterday, I will today share with my faithful listeners about why I am not happy with Comcast’s Cable Internet policies.

And I am sure that some of you can agree that they aren’t the best policy for customers who pay hard earned money for a good service (one that I will have a hard time giving up, but more on that later) that will cut you off for a year if you use too much bandwidth for two months in a row or throttle you if you are using too much bandwidth at the same time your neighbors are using it heavily also (if I understood the e-mail correctly).

Now, first, let me start off by saying that 250GB cap limit is REALLY generous, and I applaud them for going with that huge limit. And in order to better manage their customer’s usage, they have to limit their customers to 250GB per month. But no matter what they say about it being better for their network, I seriously don’t think it’s necessary for them to cut you off for a full year if you go over that cap for two months (and another oddity, it’s not two times in one year or two months in a row, it’s two months...period. So theoretically, I could have gone over it in November and stayed under that cap for three years and then go over it again in July of 2011, and they would cut off my service per their policy). I would prefer them charge me more per month, but that’s not their policy, apparently. Why not charge me five dollars for every 10 GB’s that I go over? That seems fair to me. Cutting me off for a year means that I wouldn’t have any other choice but to go to a competitor and use them for the rest of my life. I wouldn’t mind switching to Verizon DSL, now that they have 7Mbps down on their DSL. That is just about as good as I was getting from Comcast, and some could say that it’s a better service because Verizon doesn’t have a bandwidth cap. Not only that, it would be an easy switch to their FiOS service when it becomes available.

As for the throttling me when my neighbors and I use too much, well, that is another bad decision. Why? Well, I don’t see any reason to throttle me just because I am using a lot of bandwidth while the people in my neighborhood are doing the same thing. What if I were in the middle of an online computer course that relied on streaming video? Then I get throttled and miss my work. Or worse, I get throttled in the middle of a timed test that required a video to download/stream. I just see it as a way for Comcast to really annoy its customers and force them to go else where with their business.

I really hope that Comcast would come to their senses and remove the clause about being cut off for a full year. The rest I can deal with (yes, even the throttling issue doesn’t bother me as much) and remain happy. But for them to cut me off entirely for a year for two violations is just wrong. One question, though, if they cut me off, are they still going to charge me for that year?

Comcast Does Care!?!?

2008-12-03T10:56:00.000-05:00

Some of you that listen to Geezer Radio on a regular basis know that I’m not a big fan of Comcast Internet because of their bandwidth cap and now throttling policy. (I’ll get into those thoughts in a different post) No matter what I have to think about those two policies, I have to give them props on their excellent customer service. I don’t know how many of you are on Twitter, but Comcast Frank and Comcast George are on the ball for their unusually good and friendly conversations (or in Twitter speak: tweets). Not only are they attentive to a person’s (customers) needs, they are people who talk about who they are and the struggles they face in everyday life, whether it be being a Eagles fan or going to jury duty. If you are on twitter and have Comcast, follow them and if you have a problem, they WILL listen to you. I know personally how much they are willing to help. I’ve tweeted with both of them and exchanged e-mails with both of them.

They WILL listen (unless you talk about the Dallas Cowboys) and they WILL help in whatever way they can. I welcome either one of them to come onto Geezer Radio for a chat.

AnGrrrr(ER)!

2008-12-02T11:20:00.002-05:00

What in the name that is all holy and decent is the motivation for people to be putting the ER onto words that shouldn’t have it? Do you know what I mean? Over Thanksgiving, I heard my sister-in-law say that it was “funner”. Not sure what she was talking about, but I did hear her say the word “funner”. I rolled my eyes and nearly corrected her, but decided not too, but I couldn’t help but wonder why this is becoming popular. Apple (the computer company, not the fruit) has an ad “iPod Touch. The funnist iPod ever” that is, in essence, telling kids (youth and young adults alike) that it's okay to be seen as stupid and that it will not make you look stupider. Who thought that this would be a good idea? Apple (and other companies) is leading the way for bad grammar in today's youth.

With that said, is the word Google a verb? Yes it is, according to the dictionary. I can understand how people would want to use words like funner and funnist, but to me it is considered stupid and immature, and you will NOT hear my children saying things like that...at least until they are 18. And yet, there is a part of me that says let the kids have fun, but if you think this, please ask yourself if you would put that in a Résumé or a company report that you will be distributed? In other words, keep me sane and don’t use those words. Thank you!

The Crying Time

2008-12-01T10:36:00.002-05:00

Have you ever found it funny that you can tell what your spouse is thinking or doing just by hearing a noise or two from their general direction? For those of us that are married, being in such close proximity all the time gives us a unique perspective on how and what they can do at any given time. Case in point: Friday night we were in bed and I was reading a book. I heard her sniffle. Not one of the quick one’s either. This was a long drawn out sniffle and there is usually only one reason that she is doing this. I turned my head and asked if she was crying. She responded no, but when she turned her head, I saw a tear on her nose. I then asked her why the top of her nose was wet, and she started balling. For the instant second that she had been crying and balling, I ran back through my day and all the things that I did. Not one of them was bad, at least to me. It turned out, though, that it wasn’t anything I did. The next day, I told the story to my mother and the first question out of my mother’s mouth was, “When was the last time she took a pregnancy test?” I rolled my eyes and closed my mouth for the rest of that day...

Could it be? I told the same story to my co-worker and he said the same thing... I think we may be on to something.

Oh, and how was everyone's Thanksgiving? Did you get stuffed on the stuffings?

No Motivation

2008-11-26T10:39:00.002-05:00

I don't know, but yesterday I had a problem staying motivated. I did the podcast and it wasn't half as fun as the previous podcast's and it wasn't because of the co-host, or the content, I was just tired. Not really sure why, but I then joined a game of Gears of War 2 with nine other friends and didn't enjoy it at all. I usually eat that stuff up! I hope I get over this before the next time I hop onto XBL or do another podcast. On the other hand, I can't wait until the Cowboys play their next game.

Oops

2008-11-25T14:20:00.000-05:00

I had a very long and well thought-out post today, but I forgot it. So you're stuck with this.

2-4-6-8...who do I appreciate?

My sweetie.

What's The Point

2008-11-24T12:31:00.001-05:00

I really need to get away from my desk when I eat my lunch. Two reasons I need to do this. 1. I might actually be able to read a chapter in a book or an article in a magazine if I do this without getting interuppted by IM chat, e-mail or phone calls from co-wrokers. Today, it was IM chat. 2. If I go away from my desk, I might actually be able to finish my lunch on time. This doesn't happen often.

Why the Xbox 360 Avatar Hater-ation

2008-11-21T10:54:00.001-05:00

I don’t understand why everyone hates Avatar’s on the Xbox 360? I have heard that a lot of people don’t like them. I just can’t understand why. I love my avatar, and I think Microsoft was genius in doing this, because now (and this does apply to 90% of the friends on my friends list) I can see a digital representation of who they are in real life. I also have a chance to show people what I look like. I just don’t get why people do not like the avatar features on the dashboard. I want to know what you think.

Reason Not to Hate Amercia's Team

2008-11-20T10:43:00.003-05:00

I live in Richmond, Virginia, what many consider to be the home territory of the Washington Redskins, so I take a lot of flack for being a Dallas Cowboys fan. Why not? They are rivals. But I think it goes beyond that. Did you know that the Dallas Cowboys are the most liked team in the NFL? Did you also know that the Dallas Cowboys are the most hated team in the NFL? Well, this is why I not only love the Dallas Cowboys, but Tony Romo (the QB of America's Team) is starting to become my all-time favorite NFL player. Here is the link.

Geezer Radio 14

2008-11-19T12:50:00.000-05:00

Episode 14 is ready for download!

SE-Mail = Fail

2008-11-18T12:11:00.000-05:00

SE-Mail – scam electronic Mail not to be confused with snail mail.

I read on Fox News yesterday about a woman that lost $400,000 dollars to an e-mail scam. For those of you who want to read about it, here is the link. But as I thought about how stupid and ignorant this one woman is, I couldn’t help but think that she is not the only one that has fallen for this. If no one fell for this kind of scam, it wouldn’t be around to begin with. So, instead of bashing her for loosing her husbands entire retirement and falling for one of the most stupid scams out there, I will be focusing on who falls for this and why they fall for this.

First, who is targeted: Scammers (people who send out scam e-mails) target older people for several reasons. One reason is that sometimes older people don’t understand the technology that they are using. One instance of this is flash games. My wife instant messaged me to tell me she was playing a flash game (Squirrel shoot) that was e-mailed to her from her grandmother and I immediately told her that flash is one of the easiest ways to get a virus on your computer. Does her grandmother know this? Probably not, and one reason I know this is because I know her grandmother. This grandmother once got a text message from someone and in response took it back to the store and asked for a tech to fix it because she didn’t want text. You can’t fix that kind of thing, instead, you tell them to turn off the service.

Now, why people fall for these scams? A lot of people who fall for these scams at first think that the scam is actually a legit e-mail because they are looking for a get rich quick payout, and by the time they realize that it’s a scam it’s too late. Or in this ladies example, she had put so much money into the scam, she thought by putting more money into it, she could recoup the lost money (isn’t that the same philosophy as gaming addicts fall into), but it didn’t work out that way. What these people need to realize, though, is that get rich quick scheme’s don’t work and PLEASE remember the old adage, “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” But these people don’t understand it at all. They see the dollar bills before the common sense.

How to stop se-mail! You can’t. Plain and simple, you cannot stop it because for every thousand of se-mail’s sent out, one person fails for it and that profit is 100% than they would have gotten if hadn’t have sent them out. You can educate people, but there will always be that one guy who falls for it and that one person will be the reason why the scammers continue to do it. There is another reason, why scammers still do it, because as we evolve our technique to stop the, they find a new way to scam people.

Let me get off my soap box and tell you something else that I find really annoying. I have Skype on my pc so that I can talk with Geezers around the country for Skypecast’s or roundtable discussions and it works really well. Last week, though, I got a message from someone saying “High, I’m new to skype and looking for friends. Please click on the link to view my profile.” I know this is a scam right away. How? I look at the address and see that it’s for a site that has nothing to do with Skype. But out of curiosity, I click on it and it takes me to a dating site that you have to pay for to get in. What this is, though was someone trying to get me to sign up and I would believe that they get a percentage of that money because they are “referring me” to that site. I immediately changed my setting from anyone can contact me to only friends, but will that limit my ability to add Geezers to my list of friends? I’m not sure, but we’ll see. Anyway, my point is that when a technology, whether it be text messages, IM, or VOIP phone service over the computer, there is someone out there that is going to try to make money off of a scam. When will it stop? NEVER.